It was just another day on the J-O-B for your average American girl. Hillary commuted to work in a gas guzzling pickup in South Bend, Indiana today. South Bend Tribune
After gassing up the pickup, Hillary and her driver led a fleet of gas guzzling secret service suburbans to her next campaign stop where she focused on high gas prices and evil oil companies (that make less than half the profits of some computer companies). Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., left, rides in a pickup truck to commute to work with sheet metal worker Jason Allan Wilfing, Wednesday, April 30, 2008, as she campaigns in South Bend, Ind. (AP/Elise Amendola)
Hillary has not gassed up or driven her own car in 16 years.
The vehicle Wifling will be driving is not even his own, it belongs to his boss, as that car was favored by Secret Service. Also, the truck will not just cruise down the streets of South Bend alone, it will also be accompanied by a slew of police vehicles and unmarked Secret Service cars. Not exactly a typical commute to work for most people.
The Empress Has No Clothes She slapped lipstick on that pig long enough. O'Reilly drops the S-word. In her first ever interview on The Factor, Hillary Clinton is labeled a socialist. (27 seconds)
"We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." Hillary Clinton June 29, 2004
"It’s time to replace an 'on your own' society with one based on 'shared responsibility and prosperity.'" Hillary Clinton May 29, 2007
"The same with energy. You know, we can’t keep talking about our dependence on foreign oil and the need to deal with global warming and the challenge that it poses to our climate and to God’s creation and just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people." Hillary Clinton June 5, 2007
"I want to take those profits. And I want to put them into a strategic energy fund..." Hillary Clinton February 2, 2007
"...It would help narrow the gap between the rich and those who don't have enough savings... We have to fight and finally bury the idea of privatizing Social Security." Hillary Clinton October 9, 2007
Captured docurments revealed that FARC leftist rebels, who have been fighting the Colombian state for 40 years, contributed $100,000 to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa's presidential campaign. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa (left) and his ally Venezuelan Marxist Hugo Chavez (SFGate)
New documents discovered on captured FARC computers suggested that FARC terrorists donated $100,000 to the campaign of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. The Miami Herald and The Real Cuba reported:
New documents a Colombian government official says were retrieved from the computer of slain guerrilla leader Raúl Reyes show FARC's ties in Latin America may be more widespread than previously reported.
Some of the documents, obtained by The Miami Herald, indicate that a leading member of Ecuador's constitutional assembly, charged with reshaping that country's political landscape, may have been a longtime supporter of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
María Augusta Calle -- also the head of Venezuela's Telesur TV network in Ecuador and a supporter of President Hugo Chávez -- let the rebels use her bank account for at least one transaction and helped promote their ideas through another news agency she directs, the Colombian offical said...
...If confirmed, Calle's links would be yet another indication that the rebels' tentacles have spread far across the Colombian border and reached various sectors of Ecuador.
Previously disclosed documents reportedly seized from Reyes' computer have linked the FARC to cabinet members of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and suggested that the leftist rebels, who have been fighting the Colombian state for 40 years, contributed $100,000 to his presidential campaign.
The documents allege that Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea met with Reyes as recently as January and that he told the rebel leader that Correa's government was willing to post friendlier Ecuadorean security forces along the border with Colombia, where FARC rebels are known to seek refuge while eluding the Colombian military.
Captured FARC tapes revealed that a leading member of Ecuador's constitutional assembly María Augusta Calle was allowing the rebels to use her personal bank account for transactions. (Altercom)
Hundreds of Iranian students at Amir Kabir University protested "Dictator" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he made a visit to campus back in November.
17 Iranian students were taken to the hospital after going on a hunger strike at Amir Kabir University in Tabriz. AFP reported:
Seventeen Iranian students have been hospitalised after going on a hunger strike to protest strict rules at a university in the northwestern city of Tabriz, press reported Wednesday.
More than a hundred of students at Sahand University have staged a sit-in for a week against "restrictions at the university, an increased number of disciplinary decrees and student union issues," the Etemad newspaper said.
The exact nature of the measures was not clear but students involved in leftist political activism are occasionally banned from attending classes for lengthy periods of time.
"It is pitiful that the university head, after more than 80 hours of hunger striking by our friends and the admission of 17 of them to hospital, still does not take responsibility for the insults and mistakes of his deputies," said a protestor statement quoted by the newspaper.
Pictures published on Tehran's Amir Kabir University website showed scenes of ambulances carrying the students and a banner written by them asking one of the universities directors for cultural affairs to resign.
The Democracy of Iraq will hand over captured Saudi terrorists back to the Kingdom Aswat Aliraq reported:
The Iraqi government plans to hand over 12 Saudi detainees to Riyadh within a security agreement between the two countries.
In statements published today in Saudi daily al-Watan, Bahaa al-Araji, from the Sadrist bloc, said “the government could hand over 12 wanted men who were detained in Iraq.”
“They were involved in implementing terrorist acts,” he explained...
...Iraqi National Security Adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaei had said that his government handed six Saudi citizens to the kingdom last month.
Umm... It looks like Obama knew his father-figure and pastor was an anti-American bigot for quite a while now. Barack may have said that he was "Shocked! Shocked!" to hear Rev. Wright's anti-American nutty diatribe at the National Press Club but its unlikely. This article was published in The New York Times... one year ago today:
A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith
Members of Trinity United Church of Christ squeezed into a downtown hotel ballroom in early March to celebrate the long service of their pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. One congregant stood out amid the flowers and finery: Senator Barack Obama, there to honor the man who led him from skeptic to self-described Christian.
...Few of those at Mr. Wright’s tribute in March knew of the pressures that Mr. Obama’s presidential run was placing on the relationship between the pastor and his star congregant. Mr. Wright’s assertions of widespread white racism and his scorching remarks about American government have drawn criticism, and prompted the senator to cancel his delivery of the invocation when he formally announced his candidacy in February...
Mr. Wright preached black liberation theology, which interprets the Bible as the story of the struggles of black people, who by virtue of their oppression are better able to understand Scripture than those who have suffered less...
While Mr. Obama stated his opposition to the Iraq war in conventional terms, Mr. Wright issued a “War on Iraq I.Q. Test,” with questions like, “Which country do you think poses the greatest threat to global peace: Iraq or the U.S.?”
In the 16 years since Mr. Obama returned to Chicago from Harvard, Mr. Wright has presided over his wedding ceremony, baptized his two daughters and dedicated his house, while Mr. Obama has often spoken at Trinity’s panels and debates.
He has said that he relies on Mr. Wright to ensure “that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible.”
Congregants respond by saying critics are misreading the church’s tenets, that it is a warm and accepting community and is not hostile to whites. But Mr. Wright’s political statements may be more controversial than his theological ones. He has said that Zionism has an element of “white racism.” (For its part, the Anti-Defamation League says it has no evidence of any anti-Semitism by Mr. Wright.)
On the Sunday after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Mr. Wright said the attacks were a consequence of violent American policies. Four years later he wrote that the attacks had proved that “people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West went on its merry way of ignoring Black concerns.”
...In March, Mr. Wright said in an interview that his family and some close associates were angry about the canceled address, for which they blamed Obama campaign advisers but that the situation was “not irreparable,” adding, “Several things need to happen to fix it.”
Asked if he and Mr. Wright had patched up their differences, Mr. Obama said: “Those are conversations between me and my pastor.”
Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama’s audition for the ultimate establishment job.
“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.”
Obviously, when Obama says he was "shocked" at the comments of his pastor he is not telling the truth. Wright has been spewing the same hatred for years. Obama knew it-- Now, the rest of America knows it. Hat Tip Dave Clark
Obama, Not Wright, Is Obama's Worst Enemy. "Finally, and worst of all, no matter how much he protests that Wright doesn't represent him or his thinking, the fact is he sat in his church for nearly two decades, called him a spiritual mentor and family confidant, appointed him to an advisory post in his campaign, and in his so-called race speech refused to disown his two decade experience and relationship with him.
Do you remember that n-word funeral held by the esteemed Detroit chapter of the NAACP Chapter at its annual convention?
Do you remember Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick giving the eulogy? The NAACP buried the n-word last summer in Detroit at its annual meeting.
Well-- It's alive! Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resurrected the n-word last month during a press conference.
Now, we find out that the mayor was using the n-word freely in his sex text messages to his mistress and former chief of staff Christine Beatty. Jammie Wearing Fool reported on the illicit exchanges:
Beatty wrote to Kilpatrick: "I have wanted to hold you so badly all day, but I was trying to stay focused on work. So, I promise, not to keep you longer than 15 minutes."
Mayor Kilpatrick replied: "Don't promise (N-word.)"
And, then there's this:
On April 8, 2003, Beatty wrote: "You told me that you would be my boyfriend everyday until I was your wife. Are you renigging?"
With April's numbers the last 7 months have seen the lowest number of US military fatalities since the war began in 2003. But that is not how the media reported things. You really could see this coming... US Military fatalities remain at record low levels but that is not what the corrupt mainstream media is reporting. This morning the headlines note that military deaths in Iraq were at 7 month high in April. Reuters reported:
The death toll for U.S. troops in Iraq reached a seven month high in April, with the reported deaths of three more soldiers on Wednesday bringing the monthly toll to 47, the highest since last September.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have been engaged in intense fighting over the past month with Shi'ite militia fighters in Baghdad's tightly-packed Sadr City slum.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who launched a crackdown against the Mehdi Army militia a month ago in the southern city of Basra, said on Wednesday the government would disarm the fighters by force if they refuse to lay down their weapons.
Two hospitals in Sadr City, the Shi'ite slum that has been the focus of fighting in the capital, said they had received the bodies of 421 Iraqis killed and treated more than 2,400 wounded there since late March. Government spokesman Tahseen al-Sheikhly said the toll there was higher, with more than 900 killed.
The number of soldiers lost in Iraq in April was less than half the number from last April.
Out of the frying pan- Into the fire... Guess who's counselling Barack Obama, now? None other than the radical Farrakhan-loving Father Michael Pfleger!
Radical Father Michael Pfleger bats cleanup. CBS2 Chicago reported:
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports Obama felt betrayed and Wright felt sand-bagged. Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church said he has been speaking to both men as the events of the past 24 hours unfolded.
He counseled Obama Tuesday morning, and while CBS 2 talked to him Tuesday evening, Rev. Wright called his cell phone.
"I don't think he had any intention to hurt Barack. He loves Barack," Pfleger said. "I think the pain and the moment took over."
That moment was in a place Pfleger called "a lion's den" – The National Press Club.
"The people who were close to him pleaded with him not to do it," said WVON radio host Roland Martin. "We knew what the questions were gonna be, but it really was the antics, the looks the dismissive tone, the strut. It was being flippant, some say being pompous and arrogant."
That appearance Monday was far from a pastor's comfort zone, like St. Sabina on the South Side, the site of Wright's first appearance after his words drove a wedge between him and Obama.
Fr. Pfleger says Wright's first instinct Monday was to defend his reputation.
"Sometimes you get caught up in the emotional response because you're hurt, because you're injured," Pfleger said.
Mayor Richard M. Daley called the current flap a dangerous distraction.
Boy, that didn't take long!
Ace sums it up- Hell Hath No Fury Like A Racist Preacher Scorned.
Conservative Larry Elders takes Barack Obama to the woodshed on his association with Reverend Jeremiah Wright on Hannity and Colmes:
Larry Elders to Alan Colmes on Wright's influence on Obama:
"You said Alan that this shows, this doesn't prove that Barack Obama believes any of this stuff. Reverend Wright referred to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as Conda-skeeza Rice, which is a street term meaning whore. And, says for every Conda-skeeza Rice there's a million black people in prison. Barack Obama has said that there are more black men in prison than there are in college... Of college age men there are five times as many college age black men in college as there are in prison. It is not true. From where did he get it? Maybe he got it from Reverend Wright so don't tell me he doesn't influence how he thinks."
"All you have to do is drive down the street in your car, see the price at the pump, and you know that Americans can no longer afford George W. Bush as President and his Rubber Stamp Republican Congress."
Despite surging gas prices-- Democrats refuse to drill or develop national reserves. Democrats refuse to approve new refineries. Democrats refuse nuclear energy. DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO ACT. Democrats refuse to drill in ANWR or inside domestic "No Zones." (Senator Craig website)
Democrats promised they had a plan to cut energy prices-- So far they have not produced this plan.
President Bush lashed out at Democrats today for not acting on the surging energy costs. Bush proposed drilling in ANWR and building nuclear plants during his Rose Garden Press Conference:
One of the main reasons for high gas prices is that global oil production is not keeping up with growing demand. Members of Congress have been vocal about foreign governments increasing their oil production; yet Congress has been just as vocal in opposition to efforts to expand our production here at home.
They repeatedly blocked environmentally safe exploration in ANWR. The Department of Energy estimates that ANWR could allow America to produce about a million additional barrels of oil every day, which translates to about 27 millions of gallons of gasoline and diesel every day. That would be about a 20-percent increase of oil -- crude oil production over U.S. levels, and it would likely mean lower gas prices. And yet such efforts to explore in ANWR have been consistently blocked.
Another reason for high gas prices is the lack of refining capacity. It's been more than 30 years since America built its last new refinery. Yet in this area, too, Congress has repeatedly blocked efforts to expand capacity and build more refineries.
As electricity prices rise, Congress continues to block provisions needed to increase domestic electricity production by expanding the use of clean, safe nuclear power. Instead, many of the same people in Congress who complain about high energy costs support legislation that would make energy even more expensive for our consumers and small businesses.
Congress is considering bills to raise taxes on domestic energy production, impose new and costly mandates on producers, and demand dramatic emissions cuts that would shut down coal plants, and increase reliance on expensive natural gas. That would drive up prices even further. The cost of these actions would be passed on to consumers in the form of even higher prices at the pump and even bigger electric bills.
Instead of increasing costs and increasing new roadblocks to domestic energy production, Congress needs to clear away obstacles to more affordable, more reliable energy here at home.
Democrats pushed back, accusing Bush of trotting out old ideas and of favoring big oil companies at the expense of average Americans.
At a Democrat news conference where Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said: "He says he's concerned with high gas prices and high food prices and student and home loan problems. But the truth is that the president has closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears as these crises have grown."
WOULD ANWR HELP?
Gov. Sarah Palin lauded Bush's call for ANWR exploration.
"President Bush is right. Here in Alaska and across the nation, communities are feeling the pinch of high energy costs. It is absurd that we are borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars from one foreign country to buy oil from another," she said. "It is well past time for America to develop our own supplies."
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, spoke on the Senate floor on behalf of her bill, co-sponsored by Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and others, to automatically open ANWR if the world oil price tops $125 a barrel for five days. This week oil prices pushed within $6 of that trigger, a price that just a few years ago seemed absurdly high. Murkowski's bill would channel the federal revenue from ANWR to alternative energy development, programs to help improve energy efficiencies and to those in need.
"Americans are tired of hearing about why the cost of energy is so high, what they want to know is what we in Congress are doing to drive down prices," Murkowski said.
Failing to allow drilling in ANWR. We have, as Bush noted, estimated capacity of a million barrels of oil a day from this source alone -- enough for 27 million gallons of gas and diesel. But Congress won't touch it, fearful of the clout of the environmental lobby. As a result, you pay at the pump so your representative can raise campaign cash.
Refusing to build new refineries. The U.S. hasn't built one since 1976, yet sanctions at least 15 unique "boutique" fuel blends around the nation. So even the slightest problem at a refinery causes enormous supply problems and price spikes. Congress has done nothing about this.
Turning its back on nuclear power. It's safe and, with advances in nuclear reprocessing technology, waste problems have been minimized. Still, we have just 104 nuclear plants -- the same as a decade ago -- producing just 19% of our total energy. (Many European nations produce 40% or more of their power with nuclear.) Granted, nuclear power plants are expensive -- about $3 billion each. But they produce energy at $1.72/kilowatt-hour vs. $2.37 for coal and $6.35 for natural gas.
Raising taxes on energy producers. This is where a basic understanding of economics would help: Higher taxes and needless regulation lead to less production of a commodity. So by proposing "windfall" and other taxes on energy companies plus tough new rules, Congress makes our energy situation worse.
These are just a few of Congress' sins of omission -- all while India, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East add more than a million barrels of new demand each and every year. New Energy Department forecasts see world oil demand growing 40% by 2030, including a 28% increase in the U.S.
Americans who are worried about the direction of their country, including runaway energy and food prices, should keep in mind the upcoming election isn't just about choosing a new president. We'll also pick a new Congress.
Meanwhile, China, Cuba, Canada and others continue to drill off our shores where US companies are not allowed to drill because of Democratic policies! Senator Craig:
China is actively exploring oil fields 50 miles from Key West, Florida. U.S. companies are barred from working in this area because of U.S. policy . So, instead of allowing the most environmentally responsible companies to operate there and increase our domestic supply, China, who has a dismal environmental record, is sucking close, lucrative oil reserves dry.
How long can Democrats continue to do nothing about this crisis? And, how long before the media will report on it? This is unbelievable.
Code Pink gets Code Pinked... UPDATE: Here is another photo from the protest- Click to Enlarge Beverly Perlson and the Band of Mothers crashed an annual Code Pink dinner this past weekend!! (More below) * * * * *
Bev Perlson and Band of Mothers protested Code Pink this week. Code Pink Marxist founder Medea Benjamin did not appreciate it. Democracy Project has more from Bev Perlson who flew in from Chicago to crash the Code Pink dinner in New Jersey.
Some 18 people from groups that oppose anti-war protests as "anti-American" hoisted signs condemning CODEPINK as supporting terrorism.
"I'm here to support our soldiers," said Beverly Perlson, founder of the group Band of Mothers. Perlson, whose son served four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, flew in from Chicago to attend the rally in Morris County. She said CODEPINK protesters, who have agitated for the closure of a military recruitment center in Berkeley, Calif., are not just "anti-victory," they are "pro-defeat."
"They want to see us lose. I don't understand this," Perlson said, after a heated exchange with CODEPINK supporters. "I've been referred to as the mother of a terrorist. ... My son isn't a terrorist."
"They are a very virulent anti-American group," Carolyn Van Zorge, of North Bergen, state coordinator for the group Gathering of Eagles, said of CODEPINK, which has regional offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington and New York.
Medea Benjamin, left, of CODEPINK: Women for Peace, talks with a protester from the group Gathering of Eagles, during a demonstration on Sunday. (MATTHEW VAN DUSEN / SPECIAL TO THE HERALD NEWS)
Bev Perlson had a few words with Medea Benjamin, via the Herald News:
"I wanted to say hello to you and move you a bit toward dialogue," Benjamin said to Beverly Perlson, who came from the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, Ill., to protest the event. Perlson said her son has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan four times.
"I have a message for you, Medea, get out of our country," said Perlson, who carried a sign that said "The original Medea murdered her own children, Medea Benjamin is murdering ours" -- a reference to the character from Greek drama.
UPDATE: Notice the "Che" book and read below... Beverly Perlson writes in:
Bruce and Jim, Thank you both for your interest. We do have a video of several interactions this Sunday with the Pinkos. We hope to get it posted by this weekend. The book Robert is holding is written by Suzi (Medea) and she signed it.
I cannot tell you how many Patriots there are in New Jersey but as I stood on the curb there waving to the passing traffic, the honks from the cars was absolutely wonderful. I only hope that Suzi heard it all inside. She did have her little friends call the Police on us but we had a permit and they were very very nice to us.
In all my life, I have never had the Police called on me until I started standing up to the likes of John Murtha and Medea Suzi! At one point the Chief of Police drove by and he really beeped his horn. Then, before we left, a Policeman came back to ask us who Code Pink is and he wanted to know how we knew they would be there. We told him all about Code Pink and their calendar on their website.
President Bush went off on a rude reporter at the White House today after she tried to twist his words and insinuate that he was lying. Actually, she was the one twisting his words. She got hers handed to her. Video via Breitbart TV:
Here is the exchange from the White House website:
Question: Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to switch to Afghanistan. There was another attempt on President Karzai's life. There are operations going on there right now. Is the strategy succeeding? Are we winning in Afghanistan?
THE PRESIDENT: I think we're making progress in Afghanistan, but there's a very resilient enemy that obviously wants to kill people that stand in the way of their reimposition of a state that is -- which vision is incredibly dark. I mean, it's very important for the American people to remember what life was like in Afghanistan prior to the liberation of the country. We had a government in place that abused people's human rights, they didn't believe in women's rights, they didn't let little girls go to school, and they provided safe haven to al Qaeda. In the liberation of this country, we've achieved some very important strategic objectives: denying al Qaeda safe haven from which to plot and plan attacks, and replacing this repressive group with a young democracy.
And it's difficult in Afghanistan. If you know the history of the country, you understand it's hard to go from the kind of society in which they had been living to one in which people are now responsible for their own behavior. But I am pleased with a lot of things. One, I'm pleased with the number of roads that have been built. I'm pleased with the number of schools that have opened up. I'm pleased a lot of girls, young girls are going to school. I'm pleased health clinics are now being distributed around the country. I'm pleased with the Afghan army, that when they're in the fight they're good.
I wish we had completely eliminated the radicals who kill innocent people to achieve objectives, but that hasn't happened yet. And so I think it's very much in our interests to continue helping the young democracy. And we will.
Yes. Obviously you've got a follow-up.
Question: But do you think we're winning? Do you think we're winning?
THE PRESIDENT: I do, I think we're making good progress. I do, yes.
Question: Can I just add to that, a couple weeks ago --
THE PRESIDENT: No, you can't. This is the second follow-up. You usually get one follow-up, and I was nice enough to give you one. I didn't give anybody on this side a follow-up, and now you are trying to take a second follow-up.
Question: They didn't try.
THE PRESIDENT: I know you try.
Yes.
Question: Can I just say --
THE PRESIDENT: They just cut off your mic. You can't, no.
Question: A couple weeks ago you said --
THE PRESIDENT: Now she's going to go without the mic. This is awesome. (Laughter.)
Question: A couple weeks ago you said that in Iraq, in 2006, you said we were winning and the strategy was working to keep up troop morale.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Question:How can we believe that you're not doing the same thing here? (You're lying.)
THE PRESIDENT: You tried to ask me that question before. It's a repeat. Look, I said --
Question: No, I'm talking --
THE PRESIDENT: Can I finish, please? The question you asked me before at the exclusive I gave you on the ranch was: You said that we were winning in the past. I also said that there was tough fighting.Make sure you put the comments in place.
So what I'm going to tell you now is, we're making progress in Afghanistan, but there's tough fighting. I'm under no illusions that this isn't tough. I know full well we're dealing with a determined enemy. I believe it's in our interest that we defeat that enemy. And so, yes, we're making progress. But it's also a tough battle. We're facing people who are willing to strap bombs on themselves and walk into places where the innocent dwell, or the innocent shop, and kill them.
Is it in our interest to confront these people now, whether it be in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Europe, or anywhere else? And the answer is, absolutely, it's in our interest. And the notion that somehow we can let these people just kind of have their way or, you know, let's don't stir them up, is naive or disingenuous, and it's not in our nation's interests. We are in a global struggle against thugs and killers. And the United States of America has got to continue to take the lead.
And so in Afghanistan, yes, we're making progress. Does that mean that it's over? No, it doesn't mean it's over. We're in a long struggle, as I've told you many a time, against these jihadists. You defeat them ultimately by the advance of democracy. See, this is an ideological struggle. These aren't isolated, law-enforcement moments. We're dealing with a group of ideologues who use asymmetrical warfare -- that means killing innocent people -- to try to achieve their objectives. And one objective is to drive us out of Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East, or anywhere else where we try to confront them.
And so, yes, I mean, look -- is it tough? Yes, it's tough. Is it difficult? Absolutely. Is it worth the fight? In my judgment, yes, it is.
It's about time the president blasted one of these shameful biased reporters for twisting his words. Good for him.
More... Did you notice that the president violated his own confusingpolicy of banning words like "jihadist" today?
“I constantly remember Rev. Wright as the shepherd who guided me to my commitment to Christ one Sunday morning at Trinity. I often consider, as I work in the Senate how he lives his life-a life of service to Trinity, Chicago and the nation; his activism on behalf of causes that few would champion and his dogged commitment to the first principles of love for God and fellow man. And in my personal walk, I seek daily to imitate his faith."
Barack Obama on Rev. Jeremiah Wright His Father Figure & Mentor February 5, 2007 5 Days Before He Announced His Candidacy
But, that all changed today after the Reverend's preaching from this weekend. Obama threw the Reverend under the bus today. This probably doesn't fit anymore either:
"I could no longer disown him as I could disown my white grandmother."
Rev. Wright joined his white grandmother today:
And, don't forget Obama's line on "white folks greed":
"It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks' greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere…That's the world! On which hope sits!"
Congratulations Jennifer! Jennifer Hoft Henderson (my niece) was recently selected to play in the Federation Internationale de Volley Ball (FIVB) Tournament in Mexico representing the United States! The tourney will be held in Colima, Mexico this weekend. This international tournament is expected to draw 13 teams from 13 different nations.
The tournament will be played on April 30th though May 4th and will be broadcast on Mexico TV. This is a photo of Jennifer (in blue) and her sister Andrea.
Here's a shot of Jennifer setting up her partner for the spike. Go Jen!
DNC Advertisement Shows Blown Up US Troops! Here is a screengrab from the DNC Ad in case they decide to take it down. Do you suppose they got the footage from an Al-Qaeda in Iraq snuff video?
Take another look at this dishonest DNC ad attacking Senator John McCain... Pay special attention to the segment after they makeover McCain's "100 years" remark. The ad shows two US soldiers getting blown up by an IED! Here's the Democratic National Committee attack ad:
Newsmax reported that several veteran's groups are irate over this outrageous ad, via LGF Quick Links:
After the new ad’s voice-over castigated McCain for suggesting that the United States may stay in Iraq for “maybe 100” years, the footage becomes shocking.
The DNC ad then shows an explosive device detonating near two soldiers standing beside a palm tree. The two soldiers disappear in an explosive fireball. The video also shows images of burning vehicles.
The footage appears similar to film taken by jihadists who videotape IED explosions that kill American combat troops. The jihadists place the video on the internet to tout their "kill Americans" campaign success. The Army estimates that more than 6,500 jihadist Web sites promote violence against America and American troops.
Many U.S. media outlets have refused to air excerpts from such videos for several reasons - including out of respect of the servicemen and women depicted in the videos.
The DNC apparently does not agree. Calls to the DNC for comment and for information about the footage went unreturned.
UPDATE 2: A review of the movie Fahrenheit 911 it discusses "footage shot of American soldiers in Iraq" that was used in the film. Considering that it is unlikely that US cameras were present for the scene it is likely that the footage that the DNC shows in their ad may be from "snuff films" by Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
UPDATE 3: Moore may have found this footage for Fahrenheit 911 from the anti-American documentary "On the Brink":
"American audiences may get to see snippets of the documentary in Michael Moore’s award-winning Fahrenheit 9/11, depending on how it’s released."
Sharpton led protesters last week and vowed to shut down the city after 2 black officers and one white officer were acquitted in the killing of New Yorker Sean Bell. People protest against the three detectives who were found not guilty in the Sean Bell trial outside Rev. Al Sharpton's radio studio in New York City, April 25, 2008. Bell was shot, along with two friends, after a bachelor party at a strip club in November 2006. (REUTERS/Joshua Lott)
Al Sharpton attacked Barack Obama for "grandstanding for white people" yesterday. Sharpton was upset that Obama made a call for nonviolnece(?) The New York Post reported:
Barack Obama made a call for nonviolence in the aftermath of the Sean Bell verdict - infuriating the Rev. Al Sharpton, who accused the presidential candidate of trying to "grandstand in front of white people," sources told The Post.
During what a source described as a "heated" phone call yesterday, Sharpton told Obama he was disappointed with the Illinois senator's words on Friday, when Obama said "resorting to violence to express displeasure" was "completely unacceptable and counterproductive."
"[Obama] issues this statement and not a single rock had been thrown," said a source. "How does the candidate of change ask people to accept a verdict that is unjust?"
The source said Sharpton had hoped Obama would "side with the Bell family" and not use it as an "opportunity to grandstand in front of white people."
An Obama spokesman described the conversation as a chance to "hear [Sharpton's] views and to get his perspective."
** Are you starting to get the feeling that there are some black leaders who do not want Obama to win?
Rep. John Conyers will be flying to New York City today to meet with Al Sharpton and Sean Bell's family The Daily News reported:
Sharpton said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, will meet Bell's family on Monday afternoon and walk from the Kalua Cabaret strip joint to the spot where Bell was killed and two friends were wounded in a fusillade of 50 shots from three detectives.
"We are going to take him to the scene," Sharpton told a cheering crowd at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem as Bell's father and fiancée sat grimly nearby.
"We are going to walk the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to show him how far the scene of the shooting was from the club," Sharpton said.
"It shows that the policeman had 50 different things he could have done in 2-1/2 blocks. If they thought that somebody was going to get a gun, he could have called for backup."
The congressman will first meet with Bell's family at the office of Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens), said Sharpton. A spokeswoman for Conyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Oh, Brother... The Iranian regime recently published a collection of letters sent to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by US citizens apologizing for the treatment he recieved at Colombia University. Mehr News reported:
Research and Document center of the Presidential Office has recently published a collection of U.S. citizens’ letters to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad which he received following his speech at Colombia University.
Entitled “Dialogue in Iranian Style”, the book contains letters in which the U.S. citizens condemn the offensive behavior of Chancellor of Columbia University Lee Bollinger toward Ahmadinejad.
On September 24 2007, President Ahmadinejad appeared as a guest speaker at Columbia University in New York to be received with respectful words by his hosts.
The obnoxious behavior of the Columbia University chancellor gave rise to waves of criticism and protest both inside and outside Iran.
Earlier this year a delegation of Columbia University professors and deans of faculties made plans to visit Tehran to officially apologize to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
After Jeremiah Wright's whirlwind speaking tour this weekend, Barack Obama again tried to distance himself from his vile mentor and father-figure on Monday. FOX News Election HQ reported:
Barack Obama on Monday once again distanced himself from his retired pastor, Jeremiah Wright, as the reverend grabbed the spotlight for the fourth day in a row by suggesting the furor around his controversial remarks is an attack on black churches in America.
Plagued by the ongoing uproar regarding Wright, Obama said Wright does not represent his views or vice versa.
“I have said before and I will repeat again that what some of the comments that Reverend Wright have made offend me and I understand why they’ve offended the American people,’ Obama told reporters while traveling in Wilmington, N.C. “He does not speak for me. He does not speak for the campaign and so he may make statements in the future that don’t reflect my values or concerns.”
...For days, Wright has been on something of a speaking tour, starting with a PBS interview on Friday and an NAACP dinner over the weekend. On Monday, Wright appeared at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., but rather than trying to dampen the firestorm, the former Vietnam veteran and son of a middle class family from Philadelphia added fuel to the flames.
“God doesn’t bless everything,” Wright responded when asked if he was apologetic for suggesting the U.S. should be damned. “God condemns something — and d-e-m-n, ‘demn,’ is where we get the word ‘damn.’ God damns some practices.”
And, Wright continues to damn the Obama campaign into oblivion.
Meanwhile...Malik Zulu Shabazz, national chairman of the New Black Panther Party, lauded Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a "man of principle" for sticking to his teachings of "black liberation theology" during Monday's highly publicized session at the National Press Club. World Net Daily reported:
Shabazz, who was in the audience at Wright's National Press Club event in Washington, said he was particularly proud of Wright's defense of Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan.
He also labeled as "strong" Wright's accusation U.S. policy was to blame for the 9-11 attacks.
Shabazz's NBPP is a controversial black extremist party whose leaders are notorious for their racist statements and for leading anti-white activism.
The deceased chairman of the NBPP, Khallid Abdul Muhammad, is a former Nation of Islam leader who was once considered Farrakhan's most trusted adviser. Muhammad gave speeches referring to the "white man" as the "devil" and claiming that "there is a little bit of Hitler in all white people."
During a question and answer session at today's event, Wright praised Farrakhan as "one of the most important voices in the 20th and 21st century... that's what I think about him."
"Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn't make me this color," said Wright.
Wright quoted Farrakhan stating "Zionism, not Judaism, was a gutter religion. He was talking about the same thing United Nations resolutions say, the same thing now that President Carter's being vilified for and Bishop Tutu's being vilified for. And everybody wants to paint me as if I'm anti-Semitic because of what Louis Farrakhan said 20 years ago."
...Shabazz chalked up Sen. Barack Obama's recent statement distancing himself from some of Wright's positions as "pure politics."
"Because of the climate in which Wright has been raised to the point where it's the number one political liability against Obama... I believe the Wright you have seen the last few days is the Wright Obama met."
If Obama is so bright, he sure was blind to Jeremiah Wright's hateful rhetoric for all of those years. Either that, or he is not telling the truth about Wright.
The last time we saw radical Islamist Maulana Abdul Aziz he was dressed as a pregnant woman in a burqa. Jailed cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, one of two brothers who ran Islamabad’s radical Red Mosque, was caught fleeing the violence at his mosque dressed in a burka. This was after he told his students to sacrifice themselves. At least 100 people died, mostly students, when security forces stormed the mosque in a bid to end the siege and flush out pro-Taliban militants from the complex.
Here again is the video of Maulana Abdul Aziz dressed in burka after he was captured by the Pakistani police fleeing his mosque:
The terrorist mosque leader will be released soon. Islamabad High Court offered bail on the radical Islamist leader today. AP of Pakistan and LGF Quick Links reported:
Islamabad High Court here Monday accepted bail application of Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Qayyum in four criminal cases. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam and Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan heard the bail plea of former administrator of Lal Mosque.
Counsel for the appellant, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, argued that four cases of serious nature framed against Maulana which pertained to abduction of Chinese nationals, rangers’ shooting, abduction of law enforcement personnel on duty and terrorism against state were baseless, lacking evidence.
He cited that in one of FIR, it was mentioned that Maulana Abdul Aziz instigated students of seminary to attack law enforcement personnel, set on fire government building and target rangers.
He contended that no direct involvement of Maulana was established in shoot out incident.
“How it was possible for a person to issue directions over loudspeakers when power, water and gas supplies to mosque were cut off!” Siddique raised a question.
He informed the court that a total of 27 cases were registered against Maulana Abdul Aziz, out of which eight of different nature were pending with Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench.
More than 500 orphans celebrated the First Iraqi Children's Day today. Children applaud as balloons and pigeons are released during celebrations for the first Iraqi Children's Day in Baghdad April 26, 2008. More than 500 orphaned children attended the event, organised by the Red Crescent and Al-Arabiya television station, to help raise funds to build schools for the children. (REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen)
Children wave Iraqi and Red Crescent flags during celebrations for the first Iraqi Children's Day in Baghdad April 26, 2008. More than 500 orphaned children attended the event, organised by the Red Crescent and Al-Arabiya television station, to help raise funds to build schools for the children. (REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen)
Here's some more good news for Barack Obama... Jeremiah Wright announced during his speech to the NAACP in Detroit that he is coming out with a new book by the end of the year. Maybe October?
Here's a suggestion for the book cover... Did John McCain ever dream he could be this lucky?
UPDATE:Steve Sailor has more on Jeremiah Wright's coming book.
One Free Korea has a report on the thuggish Chinese converged on Seoul to defend the Olympic torch run from demonstrations. he students threw rocks, bottles, tools, and other objects, and attacked protestors. Photo taken by Dan Bielefeld who attended the relay.
"When my theological lens... sees white males as superior then all of us are inferior. And, then I order my society where I can worship my God on Sunday morning wearing a black clergy robe and kill others on Sunday evening wearing a white Klan robe."
Jeremiah Wright On the shaping of America National Press Club April 28, 2008
That was just one line from Wright's latest twisted speech... And, quite possibly one his most offensive comments to date. The man sees life through a prism of hate. Here's more on Wright's racist sermon: (7 minutes)
I can't imagine many voters of any race will buy his crap.
It's Been 12 Hours... Time For Another Jeremiah Wright Speech (FOX News) After explaining the differences between blacks and whites and their brains last night to the NAACP, of all groups, Barack Obama's father-figure was back at it this morning. Jeremiah Wright was back preaching at the lectern this morning addressing the National Press Club in Washington DC. Jake Tapper caught his speech:
"This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright," said Rev. Jeremiah Wright this morning at the National Press Club, explaining why he was emerging before a national audience, regardless of what harm it might do to the candidacy of one of his parishioners, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. "This is an attack on the black church."
With that justification -- however sincere or self-serving -- in mind, Wright continued his publicity blitz, arguing that he's compelled to speak out because he does not operate in the world of politics.
"On November 5 and on January 21, I will still be a pastor. In our community we got a thing called 'Playing the dozens,'" he said, referring to the African-American tradition of trading clever insults in a competition. "If you think I'm gonna let you talk about my momma and her religious tradition, and my Daddy and his religious tradition,…you got another think coming."
More lost votes... Wright defended his claim that the U.S. was responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Michelle Malkin liveblogged the nuttiness. From what Michelle has written about the talk- this is the end of Obama.
UPDATE:Jonn Lilyea was at the Press Club and took photos of the Wright is Wrong protesters: God bless them Freepers.
UPDATE:Amy Procter who reviewed his appearance at the press club says that aside from his supporters that embrace his radical ideas, it was very tense.
Speaking before an audience that included Marion Barry, Cornel West, Malik Zulu Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam official Jamil Muhammad, Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his view that the government created the AIDS virus to cause the genocide of racial minorities, stood by other past remarks ("God damn America") and held himself out as a spokesman for the black church in America.
Pack your bags, blondie. It's time for you to hit the road.
The regime in Iran is declaring war onBarbie. She is just way too Un-Islamic and poses a danger to the health of children. AFP reported:
Iran's toy market is being inundated by models of Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter and the young must be protected from their harmful cultural effects, the prosecutor general was quoted as saying on Sunday.
"Promoting figures like Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter and the uncontrolled import of CDs of video games and films should alarm all the country's officials," Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi was quoted as saying by the student ISNA news agency.
"We need to find substitutes to ward off this onslaught, which aims at children and young people whose personality is in the process of being formed," he added.
Dori Najafabadi's comments came in a letter to an Iranian vice president, urging measures to protect "Islamic culture and revolutionary values".
While officials regularly lambast Western culture for polluting the minds of the public, Western toys have become a regular and popular feature on the shelves of toy shops in Iran in recent years.
Affluent Iranian parents are known for indulging their children and the purchase of such toys has become for many an obligatory treat.
But Dori Najafabadi said: "These toys, which do not respect the required norms, present dangers for the health of children and affect the survival of toy factories in this country."
Two years ago, police raided toy shops to put black stickers on the packaging of Barbie dolls to hide their bodies. In public in Iran, women must cover all bodily contours, a rule that Barbie conspicuously fails to obey.
Ayatollah Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi was previously the Minister of Intelligence of Islamic Republic of Iran. During his term of ministership, some journalists and reformist politicians were murdered by security agents. Now it's Barbie's turn.
They may be in for a culture shock since women are allowed in the games.
Iran announced today that its national soccer team will travel to the US and play at least two games with American teams. AKI reported:
Iran's national football team has been invited by the US Soccer Federation to tour the US in late June and July.
The Iranian team will be hosted by the Los Angeles Blues and the visit will include a training camp, reported Iran's state news agency IRNA on Monday.
The team will also play two games during their visit.
Last week it was reported that the US team Los Angeles Galaxy had asked for a friendly game with the Iranians, claims that the US team denied.
"We will surely play Galaxy in case of receiving an official invitation from the US soccer federation," Iran's Football Federation spokesman, Hassan Ghaffari, told reporters.
The 10-day tour is still to be approved by Iran's national teams committee and the International Council of Physical Training Organisation.
AmeriKKKa Indeed... The Rev. Jeremiah Wright spouted off KKK propaganda to his audience in Detroit last night at the Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner. (AP) And, they never batted an eye. Weird.
“Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality,” he said. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. “Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style,” he said. “They have a different way of learning.” And so on.
American Digest has the video. Oddly enough... This is the same argument used by the KKK in promoting their campaign of hatred. Not surprisingly, the official website of the KKK (no, this is not a website I frequent!) has plenty of information that echoes what the Rev. Wright told his audience of black leaders last night:
The book of Popular Science in their 1931, Vol. 11 edition stated, "The verdict is that the Negro does belong to an inferior race. His brain capacity is poorer, its construction simpler...," What is meant by this was what ALL geneticists know but are afraid to say, the Negro and white brains are different.
Here's more evidence from the KKK website on the differences between white and black brains:
Each race is unique and has different talents and capabilities. Furthermore, while the scientific data does show a difference in white and black brains - we also recognize that there are some very intelligent blacks and some lesser intelligent whites. However, as a whole, the scientific community has found that blacks as a group - and across the entire spectrum are less capable than whites in the areas of logic, math, and science.
All the great scholars and researchers of the past were quick to point out the many differences that exist between the White and black races. The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, Vol. XIX, page 344 stated, The Negro would appear to stand on a lower evolutionary plane than the white man, and to be more closely related to the highest anthropoids… "Mentally the Negro is inferior to the white. The remark of F. Manetta, made after a long study of the Negro in America, may be taken as generally true of the whole race: 'the Negro children were sharp, intelligent and full of vivacity, but on approaching the adult period a gradual change set in. The intellect seemed to become clouded, animation giving place to a sort of lethargy, briskness yielding to indolence. We must necessarily suppose that the development of the Negro and the white proceeds on different lines."
Do you suppose if George Bush or Newt Gingrich would have talked to this group about "the differences in brains" they would have received a standing ovation too?
Ed Morrissey has more on this weird exchange by Wright.
Michelle Malkin has much more on Reverend Wright, racial phrenologist.
Wright's speech on black-right brainers, white-left brainers — replete with bogus stereotypes and crude voice imitations — was about as racist as they come and at one time antithetical to what the NAACP was once all about. Again, the Obama campaign and its appendages have set back racial relations a generation. Just ten years ago, any candidate, black or white, would have rejected Wright making a speech about genetic differences in respective black and white brains. Now it's given to civil rights organizations by the possible next President's pastor and spiritual advisor — and done to wild applause for an organization founded on the idea that we are innately the same, while being gushed over by ignorant "commentators."
If you believe that whitey invented AIDS to wipe out blacks, that there is no difference between the US and Al-Qaeda, and that AmeriKKKa be God d*mned then you would have enjoyed yourself last night at the Detroit NAACP annual dinner.
Barack and Michelle Obama's pastor says that he "describes the conditions in the country" and the people there loved it! They gave him a loud and lengthy standing ovation. My Way and Drudge reported:
The former pastor of Barack Obama whose words have rallied many but offended others told an audience of 10,000 that his critics get it wrong when they call him divisive and polarizing.
"I describe the conditions in this country," the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. said during the NAACP's 53rd annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner.
"I'm not here for political reasons. I'm not a politician. I know that fact will surprise many of you because many in the corporate-owned media made it seem like I am running for the Oval Office," Wright said. "I am not running for the Oval Office. I've been running for Jesus a long, long time and I'm not tired yet."
Receiving a lengthy and loud standing ovation, Wright followed in the footsteps of Obama, President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton in his speech at the event, a $150-a-plate fundraiser billed as the largest sit-down dinner in America.
Infidels Are Cool has the full Wright speech at the NAACP dinner posted.
Ed Morrissey noticed Wright's strange segment on the neurological explanation of the differences between whites and blacks as described by the good Reverend. It sounds like something from a KKK meeting.
Huda Nonoo is also the first Jewish woman to head a rights organisation, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch. (Gulf Times)
Bahrain appointed Huda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, a Jewish woman, as its ambassador to the United States. Dawn reported:
Bahrain is nominating a Jewish woman as its ambassador to the United States, press reports said.
Huda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo is Bahrain’s nominee for the post and this is of course very good news for Bahrain’s deep-rooted values of tolerance and openness,” Faisal Fouladh, a Shura Council representative, and some western diplomats were quoted in the reports as saying.
Huda Nonoo, a businesswoman, was also the first Jewish woman to sit in the Bahriani Shura Council, the 40-member upper house of the bicameral legislature, replacing her uncle.
She is also the first Jewish woman to head a rights organisation, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch, as its secretary-general.
The appointment of Huda is based on her qualification and not just ‘a public relationing campaign’ by the island kingdom, her colleagues in Shura insisted.
I had the privilege this weekend to talk with Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith who served the Bush Administration from July 2001 until he resigned from his position effective August 8, 2005. Douglas recently completed:
It is being described as thebest account to date of how the Bush Administration debated, decided, organized and executed its military responses to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. And, it is said to be the most balanced, detailed, and lucid account of this story that’s come out yet.
Douglas was kind enough to give me some time to discuss this important account on the War in Iraq. In this audio clip here we discussed the Bush administration’s extreme difficulty with implementing a competent communication strategy:
There is more on this topic on page 476 in the book.
Here are a few more points from the book that discuss the Bush Communication Strategy:
The inadequacy of the Administration’s strategic communications was obvious to all. My Pentagon and Situation Room meeting notes show literally hundreds of comments from 2001 forward—by the President, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Myers, Pace, Abizaid, and others—calling for better public diplomacy and public relations. (p. 335)
Moreover, the President’s political opponents quickly came to realize that if they attacked the Administration for its prewar analyses and other prewar work, they would not be refuted. This had the ironic effect of focusing the public debate on the past rather than on the future—the opposite of what White House officials intended. (p. 491)
[W]hen U.S. officials began to despair of finding WMD stockpiles in Iraq after Saddam’s overthrow, their embarrassment apparently caused a radical shift in Administration rhetoric about Iraq. The President no longer cited Saddam’s record or the threats from the Baathist regime as reasons for going to war; rather, he focused almost exclusively on the aim of promoting democracy. (p. 535)
I argued that the dialogue of greatest strategic importance was not the one between America and the Muslim world, but the one within the Muslim world. The key question wasn’t what U.S. officials should say, but what we could do to encourage Muslims to speak openly against the extremists’ views and to make extremist ideology less attractive. (p. 182)
In a wise move Doug created a website War and Decision that contains careful documentation to back up the book chapter by chapter, page by page. The book is backed by fact and not just mainstream media hype and distortions.
War and Decision is available at Amazon.com. ** And, by the way... Doug is not making money off War and Decision. The proceeds are going to a military charity that supports the families of those lost in Afghanistan and Iraq.
UN troops in DR Congo were trading arms for gold and ivory with local militias. A Lendu FNI fighter carries a rocket-propelled grenade. Proceeds from the sale of gold are frequently used to purchase weapons and other supplies for armed groups. (HRW)
The UN troops in DR Congo were supplying arms to militias in exchange for gold and ivory according to a BBC report released today:
The UN has covered up claims that its troops in Democratic Republic of Congo gave arms to militias and smuggled gold and ivory, the BBC has learned.
The allegations, based on confidential UN sources, involve Pakistani and Indian troops working as peacekeepers.
The UN investigated some of the claims in 2007, but said it could not substantiate claims of arms dealing.
UN insiders told the BBC's Panaroma they had been prevented from pursuing their inquiries for political reasons.
The UN peacekeeping operation in DR Congo is the largest in the world, with 17,000 troops, spread across the country.
...An 18-month BBC investigation for Panorama has found evidence that:
- Pakistani peacekeepers in the eastern town of Mongbwalu were involved in the illegal trade in gold with the FNI militia, providing them with weapons to guard the perimeter of the mines.
- Indian peacekeepers operating around the town of Goma had direct dealings with the militia responsible for the Rwandan genocide, now living in eastern DR Congo.
- The Indians traded gold, bought drugs from the militias and flew a UN helicopter into the Virunga National Park, where they exchanged ammunition for ivory.
Figure this one out-- Senator Barack Obama says that General Petraeus did a good job in Iraq and that he will back Petraeus for his new command post. Senator Barack Obama also says he will withdraw troops from Iraq immediately if he becomes president even if his generals in the field believe it is a bad idea. Reuters reported:
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who has called for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq, said on Sunday he will vote to confirm the top commander there for a new job as head of the military's Central Command.
President George W. Bush has nominated Gen. David Petraeus, who led the buildup of troops in Iraq, to be in charge of operations across the Middle East and Central Asia.
If confirmed by the Senate, Petraeus will still be in that job when the next president replaces Bush at the White House in January 2009. Obama hopes that person is him.
"Yes," Obama told "Fox News Sunday" when asked if, as a senator from Illinois, he would approve Petraeus. "I think Petraeus has done a good tactical job in Iraq."
Obama has said he would start pulling out more troops as soon as he became president.
Obama believes Petraeus has done a good job in Iraq but wants to surrender anyway. Go figure.
He also blasted Barack Obama for being friendly with known unrepentant terrorists Willian Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn:
Paul Ragonese, a retired NYPD Detective, spoke out against Barack:
"If that's the standard for New York city cops, that you can't be associating with known criminals, that should be the minimum standard, I believe, for the president of the United States."
The book provides almost 300 primary texts covering more than a century of history. It documents the British mandate and early attempts to handle the conflict; Israel's independence and the outbreak of wars; international diplomatic efforts to make peace including the 1990s’ peace process and its breakdown. Materials are presented reflecting the positions of Arab leaders and states, Europeans, Israel, Palestinians, the USSR, and the United States. The texts of international resolutions and agreements, as well as accords made during the peace process, are also provided.
The book has been in print for 40 years. You can find out more about the latest edition HERE.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the embattled pastor of presidential candidate Barack Obama, gave a 45-minute sermon on Sunday that included a reference to his “public crucifixion” for past comments from the pulpit.
Wright received a standing ovation from the 4,000 worshippers at Friendship-West Baptist Church, The Dallas Morning News reported on its Web site.
Al Sharpton was an honored guest at the church earlier in the month.
UPDATE: Jeremiah Wright is speaking at the NAACP Detroit Dinner tonight. The talk is on live on FOX News.
UPDATE 2:Infidels Are Cool has the Wright speech to the NAACP posted.
Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) met with Hugo Chavez on Saturday to discuss the release of three US contractors held by the FARC terrorists in Colombia. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) welcomes New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson at Miraflores Palace in Caracas April 26, 2008. Seasoned U.S. negotiator Richardson will discuss the situation of three U.S. hostages held by rebels in Colombia by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since 2003. (REUTERS/Miraflores Palace)
Governor Richardson says that he persuaded Hugo Chavez to help secure the release of 3 Americans held by FARC. UPI reported:
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he has persuaded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to intervene to help secure the release of three U.S. hostages.
"President Chavez has agreed to try and help," the Democratic governor said.
Richardson met Saturday with Venezuelan officials who agreed to let the former presidential candidate negotiate with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, or FARC, to release three military contractors -- Tom Howes, Marc Gonsalves, and Keith Stansell -- held since 2003.
Hugo Chavez has well known links to the Colombian FARC terrorists. Chavez gave $300 million to the FARC terroristsand financial ties between Chavez and the rebels dating back to 1992 according to documents captured in a recent FARC raid. In fact a phone call by Chavez to FARC leader Raul Reyes and traced by Colombia led to a successful ambush on the FARC leader's camp.
FARC terrorists have been holding US defense contractors Keith Stansell, Mark Gonsalves and Thomas Howes since 2003 in the jungles of Colombia. Gonsalves, Stansell and Howes were doing drug surveillance for the Department of Defense when they were taken hostage in February 2003. The single-engine plane carrying them and two other men crashed in a remote, mountainous region south of Colombia's capital, Bogota. Almost four years later they are still being held by FARC.
Senator John McCain denounced the North Carolina Republican ad, without watching it, for showing Barack Obama with his controversial pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. McCain said the the NC Republican Party officials were out of touch with reality in the Republican party for linking Obama to his America-hating mentor.
Let's hope he didn't expect the Democrats to follow his advice... The DNC just came out with a nasty and possibly illegal ad of John McCain talking about "100 years in Iraq":
(Washington Post- McCain has never talked about wanting a 100-year war in Iraq.)
Will John McCain denounce this ad, too? Will Senator John McCain demand that Hillary and Barack Obama denounce this ad? Will he denounce the DNC for putting up this dishonest ad?
* * * * * UPDATE- John McCain today said Obama opened the door today for making Wright an issue(?)
"We’re going to burn you naked or put a bullet in your mouth."
Islamists to Dutch Artist Sooreh Hera After her photos of gay men with Mohammad masks were displayed Times Online
Dutch artist Sooreh Hera is still in hiding and her photos are still not on display. Sooreh Hera Strike Three... For the third time in a row, a controversial art exhibit depicting gays wearing masks of the Prophet Mohammad was yanked from another Dutch gallery. Dutch News and ROP reported:
THE HAGUE, 26/04/08 - The controversial Mohammed-exhibition of work by Iranian artist Sooreh Hera remains hidden from the public. For the third time in succession, an exhibitor willing to show her work has reversed this decision.
Hera took photos of homosexuals wearing masks of the prophet Mohammed and his son-in-law Ali. The work was first going to be exhibited by the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, but the museum changed its mind because it "did not wish to become part of a political debate," as Director Wim van Krimpen put it.
MuseumgoudA then took on the role of advocate of artistic freedom. In December 2007, museum director Ranti Tjan offered to exhibit the work of Hera, who by then had begun to receive serious threats. But Tjan then needed protection himself and called the whole thing off.
Nor will the photos be shown at Art Amsterdam, an exhibition in the RAI at the beginning of May. Galerie A in Amsterdam offered two weeks ago to show the photos at Art Amsterdam, but now suddenly claims there is "not enough space". Only Hera's "less controversial" photos will therefore be on display in the RAI.
This photo from the exhibit did not go over well with the radical Islamists: Sooreh Hera, the artist, an Iranian exile who goes by the pseudonym of Sooreh Hera, said she had been threatened with “execution.” She had wanted to expose a “hypocritical” attitude towards homosexuality in countries such as Iran. Now she is in hiding.
Despite his comments to George Stephanopoulos during the Pennsylvania debate, Barack Obama's ties to William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are extensive and began years ago. Hillary-supporter Larry Johnson at No Quarter blog reported on these connections, via Instapundit:
But William Ayers was not just some guy who “lives in Barack’s neighborhood.” He is a well-known and controversial Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. And Obama wants you to believe that he knew nothing of Ayers views or politics even though Barack participated in public forums with him there? I don’t think so.
But that is not all. Barack also was essentially an employee of Bill Ayers for eight years.
In 1995, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was created to raise funds to help reform the Chicago public schools. One of the architects of the Challenge was none other than Professor Bill Ayers. Ayers co-wrote the initial grant proposal and proudly lists himself on his own website as the co-founder of the Challenge.
And who did William Ayers, co-creator of the Challenge, help select as the new director of the board for this program? Barack Obama. Barack Obama was the first Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. This appointment came at a crucial time in Barack’s life. He was on the verge of challenging longtime state Senator Alice Palmer for her job. When Barack decided to run, it is no surprise that he turned to William Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn for help in organizing the campaign and in hosting his first fundraiser in the district.
Obama served on the board for eight years until the Challenge ended in 2003. Bill Ayers was intimately involved in the Challenge over this same time period.
Larry Johnson also links to the posting at Global Labor and Global Economy that speculates that the Obama ties with Ayers go way back to the 1980's.
Doug Ross has more on the Obama's longtime friendship with Ayers.
Debbie Schlussel discovered this photo of Rev. Wright supporter Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi (on right) sitting with Hezbollah Spiritual Leader Sheikh Mohammed Fadlallah.
A prominent Muslim leader in Dearborn Heights, Michigan threw his support behind Jeremiah Wright and the "unfair treatment" he received by some media members. Freep.com reported:
A prominent Muslim leader from Dearborn Heights is calling for the support of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the controversial pastor from Chicago who was Sen. Barack Obama's religious mentor.
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, head of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, said that during his sermon this afternoon at his mosque he plans to "condemn the unfair treatment" that he says Wright "received by some media members who are ignoring this faith leader's decades of dedication and services to this country and nation."
Elahi said in a release that he plans to make his remarks during today's Friday sermon, which is traditionally the most attended service in Islamic centers, ahead of Wright's talk Sunday in Detroit at an NAACP dinner.
So who is Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi? This prominent Muslim leader in Michigan also happens to be the former spiritual leader of Ayatollah Khomeini's Navy in Iran. Debbie Schlussel has much more on this Rev. Wright fan:
America backs Israel in its fight against Hezbollah.
But in the Detroit area--the heart of Islamic America--it's a different story. Hezbollah supporters connected to Iran are feted by top federal officials.
Take Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi, head of the shi'ite Islamic House of Wisdom--one of the largest mosques in North America. He was the spiritual leader of Ayatollah Khomeini's Navy in Iran. Despite that, Elahi--who came here in the 1990s on a visitor visa to speak to a mosque in San Francisco--is now a U.S. citizen. Elahi's ties to Iran are so strong that his former mosque, the Islamic Center of America, fired him--even though that mosque also backs Hezbollah.
Debbie has much more on Imam Ali Elahi. This may not be the endorsement that Rev. Wright would like but at least they have a lot in common.
David Axelrod from the Obama Campaign announced they had asked a PR firm to advise Trinity United Church of Christ and Jeremiah Wright. The Chicago Sun-Times reported:
The backfire potential of Wright having any sort of a public profile at this point seems obvious.
I asked the church about the prospects of Wright further wounding Obama's candidacy, and I was e-mailed material about the divinity conference.
When the uproar over Wright started, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod asked his friends at Jasculca Terman -- a public affairs firm -- to advise Trinity on how to handle the crush of media coverage, and they did, pro bono. Jim Terman, the president of the firm, said, "We were not asked to provide our advice about the reported speech of Rev. Wright in Washington" and did not know about it until it was scheduled.
Axelrod confirms that he called Jim Terman, the president of Jasculca-Terman and Associates, a major Chicago P.R. outfit that specializes in doing crisis P.R. management for corporations and large institutions.
"I called Jim Terman and asked if they were interested in helping out and they followed up with the church," Axelrod emails, adding that his involvement ended there.
Terman himself confirmed that Axelrod had asked him to help Trinity -- and confirmed that his firm was currently doing pro bono work on the beleagured church's behalf.
"Trinity is a well respected institution in this town, though you wouldn't believe it from the national press," Terman said, adding that he has known Axelrod for 25 years. "David was interested in helping the church -- the guy he's working for happens to be a member of the church."
Related News... Wright said during the Moyer's interview that his words were taken out of context. FOX News, however, posted video of Wright's sermons and are asking if criticism of Wright’s fiery sermons was “unfair” and “devious,” as he argued in the PBS interview. You decide.
Three were killed as terrorists started shooting from abandoned buildings across the lot including a 10 year-old boy. Three terrorists were killed and three captured by the government officials.
The AP posted video of the attack.
One person was killed and 11 others were injured in the attack. The BBC has video of the attack that was shown live on national TV. Afghan President Hamid Karzai salutes just before the gun firing which he survived during a celebration in Kabul April 27, 2008. Karzai was hussled away but escaped unhurt after an assassination attempt during an official celebration in the capital, Kabul, on Sunday. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani)
The Taliban attacked a military parade in Afghanistan today after President Karzai took the stage with dignitaries and US military commanders. The AFP reported:
Taliban extremists attacked an Afghan military parade on Sunday, sending thousands of troops and police scattering although President Hamid Karzai and other attending dignitaries were unharmed.
At least one person was killed and 11 others, including two or three parliamentarians, wounded in the attack, an Afghan defence official told AFP.
"We have hospital reports that one person has been killed and 11 others were wounded. Two or three parliament members have been wounded," said ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
Gunfire and explosions erupted after President Karzai had taken the stage following an inspection of troops in what was meant to have been the largest annual parade of Afghanistan's growing military.
Karzai and the scores of cabinet members, ambassadors, US military commanders assembled on the stage for the event slammed to the floor or were whisked out but they were unharmed, officials said.
So much for the military parade-- Troops scatter after shots rang out at the Afghan military parade today. (Reuters)
Anne Bayesfsky, the editor of EYE on the UN and representing the Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, tees off on the Iranian and Syrian UN delegates at the Durban Review Preparatory Committee in Geneva. (6 minutes- Outstanding!)
Actually, Anne goes off on Senegal, Syria, Algeria and Iran all in the same clip. But, her attack on Iran was perfect:
"A few minutes ago the representative of Iran stated that Iran played a constructive role in the first Durban Conference by hosting a regional preparatory meeting in Tehran. It may be of interest of participants to know that this constructive role consisted of the state ensuring that no Jewish NGO could attend a UN meeting billed as fighting racism and intolerance. Apparently, engaging in anti-Semitism itself, is a best practice in Iran."
Zing!
There is much more on this outrageous conference at EYE on the UN.
That was quick... Last month it was announced that the Austrian monks from the Monastery of the Holy Cross would join Amy Winehouse and Eminem at Universal Music. The Heiligenkreuz monks were selected by Universal after they posted this video of their Gregorian chant on YouTube:
Well their first album is already ready for release: Those monks don't mess around.
The Anchoress has more on the chanting Heiligenkreuz monks from the Monastery of the Holy Cross. Hat Tip Larwyn
The 5 British hostages kidnapped last year are being held by the Revolutionary Guard in Iran. The hostages are reportedly being held by guards members in Hamadan, Iran. The Times Online reported:
Five British hostages who were kidnapped in Iraq almost a year ago are being held inside Iran by Revolutionary Guards, according to two separate sources in the Middle East and London.
The hostages were handed over to the Revolutionary Guards by their Iraqi kidnappers last November, the sources believe. One of the sources said they were being held in the western Iranian city of Hamadan.
If confirmed, the involvement of Revolutionary Guards would be seen as evidence that senior figures in the Iranian government had backed the decision to hold them in the country.
However, British officials said that while there had been rumours that the five were in Iran, they had seen no evidence to support the idea.
The hostages are said to be in good physical shape but spending much of their time in solitary confinement.
According to one of the sources, they are under the control of Mohammad Safaei, 41, a senior Revolutionary Guard colonel who was previously in charge of special operations in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
The hostages were kidnapped in Baghdad last May in an attempt to force the Americans to release Qais al-Khazaali, an Iraqi militia leader said to be close to the Revolutionary Guards.
Khazaali was apparently being groomed by Iran to take control of a breakaway faction of the Mahdi Army, a Shi’ite militia, that would be compliant with Tehran. A former chief spokesman for the Mahdi Army, Khazaali was arrested by US troops after masterminding a raid inside a base in which five US soldiers were killed. The Americans have refused to release al-Khazaali in exchange for the British hostages.
Qayis Khaz’ali (pictured on left) was captured with his brother Layith and Ali Musa Daqduq (pictured on right) by US forces in 2007. Ali Musa Daqduq was the Hezbollah leader apprehended in Iraq. He is responsible for several terrorist acts and was funded by the Iranian Regime.(MNF-I) .
Angry New Yorkers gathered with Al Sharpton to protest the the acquittals of three police detectives who killed 23-year-old Sean Bell outside a Queens strip club. The protesters chanted "kill the cops" while they marched through Harlem. Two of the three acquitted cops were black. People protest against the three detectives who were found not guilty in the Sean Bell trial outside Rev. Al Sharpton's radio studio in New York City, April 25, 2008. (REUTERS/Joshua Lott)
Al Sharpton led protesters in Harlem today and promised to shut down New York City over the acquittal of three police officers. The AP reported:
Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to "close this city down" to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends.
"We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians," Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell."
Sharpton was joined by the family of 23-year-old Sean Bell — a black man — and a friend of Bell who was wounded in the 2006 shooting outside a Queens strip club. Two of the three officers charged were also black.
The rally at Sharpton's office was followed by a 20-block march down Malcolm X Boulevard and then across 125th Street, Harlem's main business thoroughfare, where some bystanders yelled out "Kill the police!"
Fifty of the marchers carried white placards bearing big black numbers for each of the police bullets fired at Bell and his friends.
Sharpton urged people to return for a meeting this coming week "to plan the day that we will close this city down" with the kind of "massive civil disobedience" once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The protesters brought their KKK sign to the event. Again... Two of the three cops acquitted were black. People protest against the three detectives who were found not guilty in the Sean Bell trial outside Rev. Al Sharpton's radio studio in New York City, April 25, 2008. Bell was shot, along with two friends, after a bachelor party at a strip club in November 2006. (REUTERS/Joshua Lott)
The Left continues its attack on Christians and the military...
Radical atheist Jeremy Hall makes headlines with The New York Times with his latest charges against Christians in the military. The New York Times reported:
Last month, Specialist Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, filed suit in federal court in Kansas, alleging that Specialist Hall’s right to be free from state endorsement of religion under the First Amendment had been violated and that he had faced retaliation for his views. In November, he was sent home early from Iraq because of threats from fellow soldiers.
Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department, declined to comment on the case, saying, “The department does not discuss pending litigation.”
...“They don’t trust you because they think you are unreliable and might break, since you don’t have God to rely on,” Specialist Hall said of those who proselytize in the military. “The message is, ‘It’s a Christian nation, and you need to recognize that.’ ”
Soft-spoken and younger looking than his 23 years, Specialist Hall began a chapter of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers at Camp Speicher, near Tikrit, to support others like him.
At the July meeting, Major Welborn told the soldiers they had disgraced those who had died for the Constitution, Specialist Hall said. When he finished, Major Welborn said, according to the statement: “I love you guys; I just want the best for you. One day you will see the truth and know what I mean.”
Major Welborn declined to comment beyond saying, “I’d love to tell my side of the story because it’s such a false story.”
Jeremy Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation also sued the military alleging widespread violations of religious freedom back in December.
Um... Didn't Lincoln and Douglas debate slavery? Is that what this is all about?... Another twisted racist attack by the Clinton's? Is this some sick stunt where Hillary gets Obama on stage, plays Democrat and defends slavery for 90 minutes? Sick.
Hillary Clinton wants to challenge Barack Obama to a Lincoln-Douglas style debate. The AP reported:
Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton turned up the rhetoric Saturday in their increasingly heated primary battle as she issued a new debate challenge and he complained of a race that's largely been reduced to trivia while working families feel economic pain.
Clinton took the debate dispute to a new level, challenging Obama to face off with her in a debate without a moderator, Lincoln-Douglas style.
"Just the two of us, going for 90 minutes, asking and answering questions, we'll set whatever rules seem fair," Clinton said while campaigning in South Bend.
Now... Since Lincoln and Douglas were debating slavery in their seven debates, wouldn't this offer by Hillary be considered racist? Is the NY Times going to jump on this too like they did the Republican North Carolina ad on the racist Rev. Wright?
And, since both Hillary and Barack are cut and runners on Iraq isn't it going to be hard for one of them to play the role of Republican Abe Lincoln? This just reeks of racism.
UPDATE: Poor Hillary... Barack Obama says that he will not hold any more debates until after the next primaries. That's weak. That's a bad move. Obama always makes Hillary look awful when they go one on one.
UPDATE: Maureen Lovetro the disabled girl who was pummelled by a Bush-basher while she waited to catch a glimpse of Laura Bush this week called into Sean Hannity on Friday. The Bush-basher beat her in her wheelchair. Maureen Lovetro, 18, suffers from cerebral palsy. Here is the video, via MySpace:
Obviously, Maureen has a much different story than the man who attacked her. Maureen says the Truthers and Leftists are threatening her family now. * * * * *
The Bush-basher who pummelled a handicapped girl in a wheelchair this week insists he was the victim. He says he was attacked by the wheelchair bound girl outside an event with Laura and Jenna Bush and that she was used as a human shield.
Bush-bashing reached a new low this week... Maureen Lovetro, 18, who has cerebral palsy was waiting to see Laura Bush when Bush-basher Gary started pounding on her. He punched Maureen in the shoulder blades and then started beating her thighs.
Gary or German Talis from We Are Change, a 9-11 Truther group, says he was attacked by the girl in the wheelchair:
Here are a few lines from the video testimony:
I was trying to walk away and he took his wheelchair and they rammed me in the side. His behavior was very suspicious... It was very unfortunate that they (Secret Service) did not let me even close to her. A person with a daughter in a wheelchair was upset with what I was saying. He took his daughter and slammed her into my side. At the same time he kicked me. The next thing I knew the secret service was on me. Afterwards it was very upsetting that this man was released. He wasn't even questioned... They used their daughter as a human shield... They reared me in the side with their handicapped daughter. They were trying to pound on me. NYPD did everything in their power not to stop this violent act as they chose to choose me as the culprit in this incident.
The We Are Change folks are treating Gary like a hero.
The esteem for the US is rising declares a respected analyst in Australia in a report in The Australian:
THE US war in Iraq has strengthened its strategic position, especially in terms of key alliances, and the only way this could be reversed would be if it lost the will to continue the struggle and abandoned Iraq in defeat and disarray.
Surely the author of this sentence is on the ganja, you might say. Something a little weird in the coffee? It goes against every aspect of conventional wisdom.
But the author of this thesis, stated only marginally less boldly, is one of the US's most brilliant strategic analysts. Mike Green holds the Japan chair at Washington's Centre for Strategic and International Studies and was for several years the Asia director at the National Security Council. He is also one of America's foremost experts on Japan and northeast Asia generally.
His thesis, applied strictly to the US position in Asia, is correct.
But, Obama and Hillary promise to withdraw troops immediately if they win the election in November regardless of the consequences.
The Left is still upset that Mahoud and Hugo dislike us. Don Surber adds:
...When a fellow campaigns as L’Americain and wins the presidency of France, I humbly assert that far from alienating friends, Bush has brought them closer.
The "Mecca Time" movement continues. Earlier this week Muslim scientists announced a proposal to change the world's clocks to Mecca Time. The BBC reported:
Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth.
Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers.
The call was issued at a conference held in the Gulf state of Qatar under the title: Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice.
One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca's was in perfect alignment to magnetic north.
** David Thompson discovered more evidence to support these arguments. Scientists have discovered that people in Mecca are not affected by gravity and that NASA discovered “short wave radiation” emanating from Mecca.
And, of course there was this miraculous video taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft... The evidence of Allah?
(Question: Does anyone know if this is actual footage from Apollo or is it footage from a movie?)
DNC Chairman Howard Dean revealed that indeed the superdelegates may choose the candidate who loses the race in total votes or total pledged delegates. Dean also that it is "total bullsh*t" that Pelosi or Gore will decide which candidate will be asked to pull out of the race. The Financial Times and Political Radar reported:
“I think the race is going to come down to the perception in the last six or eight races of who the best opponent for McCain will be. I do not think in the long run it will come down to the popular vote or anything else.”
However, he added that it was highly unlikely that the superdelegates – of whom roughly 300 out of 800 remain undecided – would go against whichever candidate was ahead on the popular vote and among pledged delegates in practice. “I think it is very unlikely – I have never seen it happen. In fact it has never happened. But it is possible and they have every right to do it.”
Some commentators have speculated that if the race remains deadlocked after June 3 then a senior figure such as Al Gore, the former vice-president, or Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, could prevail on one of the candidates to withdraw - with most people focusing on Mrs Clinton.
But Mr Dean, who some have criticised for allegedly mismanaging the drawn-out primary calendar, dismissed that scenario as “total bullshit”.
Could this be the death knoll for Barack Obama? Hat Tip Nahanni
Fausta reports on the latest Chavez induced tragedy in Venezuela including the continued shortages of food essentials: At 7:15AM near Guaraguao-Anzoategui stadium (in the state which presently produces and processes the most oil), people were placed in a metal structure to stand in line for buying two kilos of milk per person. PDVSA was in charge of the sale. (Translated by Fausta)
The leader of the ruling Colorado Party in Paraguay, Juan Carlos Galaverna, said a few days ago that the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, financed the former Bishop Fernando Lugo (a Leftist). "Chavez financed Lugo," he accused. Similarly, President Nicanor Duarte claimed that "agitators of Venezuela and Ecuador" came to his country "for blurring the elections."
Jeremiah Wright was on Bill Moyers Journal tonight. It was such a fluffpiece that you kept thinking they might kiss.
Anyway... Moyers was able to accidentally do us all a favor and settle the "Wright's hateful words were cherry-picked" argument. They weren't.
Moyers aired the whole America-hating sermon of Wright G-damning America. The whole rant was hateful, bitter, looney, and raging: (2 minutes 24 seconds)
"No, No, No... Not God Bless America, God D*mn America. That's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God D*mn America for treating its citizens as less than human... God D*mn America for as long as she tries to act like she is God and she is supreme."
It's getting hard to look at Barack Obama and wonder what was going through his head for 20 years while he sat and listened to that filth. It would be difficult to see someone like that as president.
This was interesting: Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ focuses on Black Liberation Theology. The windows of the church display different characters of the Bible. Here is black Moses? Or, St. Peter?
And, here a black Jesus(?) turning water into wine. The church is so focused on race that even the Bible characters are all black at Trinity.
UPDATE:Karl says Moyers played whiffleball with Wright.
Richard Landes takes apart Wright's black liberation teachings.
Another former Gitmo detainee is re-arrested... Israrul Haq was re-arrested in Pakistan this week. The Daily Times reported:
Israrul Haq, who was freed from incarceration in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2005 before being rearrested on Thursday, has been transferred to an undisclosed location by unidentified agencies. According to sources, Haq and several relatives were travelling to Mardan by bus when he was arrested at the Gohati bus stop on the Swabi-Mardan road. They said that his family were allowed to continue their journey but he was taken away in a car. They said that when his family contacted the police to learn of Haq’s whereabouts, they were told that police had not arrested him.
United States Army soldiers captured Haq, who is a resident of Panjpaoo Kharai of Topi tehsil, when they invaded Afghanistan.
"We didn't cross the border. The border crossed us!...
Michigan State University La Raza Students At the Captured Bridge on Campus April 23, 2008
The bridge invaders didn't much like boundaries. And, they didn't much like that they were being filmed. This is what they had to say to the cameraman:
You are such a f***ing fascist. You are the worst piece of s*** that has ever been born on this earth."
Nice.
Branches of MEChA and Chicanos y Latinos Unidos joined La Raza in this protest. Here's the SHOCKING video:
Art teacher Jolita Berry, was viciously attacked in a classroom at Reginald F. Lewis High School earlier this month. Video of Berry being pummelled by a female student while rolling around on the ground was captured by videophone and shared with the world via the Internet and television.
WBAL TV 11 played the shocking video of the art teacher beatdown:
Art teacher Jolita Barry (pictured) says she is still too frightened to go back to the school to teach. Imagine that?
After this incident The Examiner in Baltimore sent a photographer down to the school to take some photos and talk with students. Guess what happened? She got a beatdown, too. WBAL and Inside City Charm reported:
A photographer for The Examiner (Baltimore) was attacked by a person believed to be a student while the photographer was taking pictures at a school where an art teacher was assaulted earlier this month, the newspaper said.
Arianne Starnes, 24, said she was thrown to the ground Thursday morning after an apparent student at Reginald F. Lewis High School left a group of about 20 other persons.
Starnes told the newspaper that others in the group had posed for pictures to be used by the newspaper in a special report when the attacker wearing a blue bandana emerged and accused her of taking his picture. Starnes said she told the boy she had not photographed him.
The attacker grabbed Starnes' cameras, pulling at the straps and threatening her. After a struggle, Starnes was pushed backward to the ground, falling on her cameras.
Starnes stood up and was again confronted by the boy, who this time pointed his finger at her head and pretended to shoot her, saying "I told you not to take a f... picture."
The Obama camp plays its first race card against Republicans.
When 92% of blacks are voting for Obama over Clinton (97% of black men in Pennsylvania) you'd think Democrats would notice they have a race problem. Instead, Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, played the race card against Republicans today. The National Journal reported:
Question: Well, one of the things to which some Democrats point -- the Clinton campaign has not said this publicly at least, but one certainly hears it in talking to supporters in more of a background way. Look at the racial polarization in the last several contests -- Pennsylvania, Ohio, Mississippi -- is that going to be a problem? Is race going to be a problem for Barack Obama in the general election?
Plouffe: We really don't think so. I mean the vast, vast majority of voters who would not vote for Barack Obama in November based on race are probably firmly in John McCain's camp already.
Ooh... Nice play! You can be sure that won't be the only race card played from now until election day. But, it was the first.
The United Nations deplored the fact that it took 7 months for the US and Israel to go public with information on the Syrian nuclear plant.
Figures... The UN's head of nuclear monitoring Mohamed ElBaradei attacked the US and Israel for bombing the Syrian nuclear plant that he knew nothing about. The Jerusalem Post reported:
The head of the UN nuclear monitoring agency on Friday criticized the US for not giving his organization intelligence information sooner on what Washington says was a nuclear reactor in Syria being built secretly by North Korea.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei also chastised Israel for bombing the site seven months ago, in a statement whose strong language reflected his anger at being kept out of the picture for so long.
Elbaradei released a statement yesterday critical of the US and Israel but giving Syria and North Korea a pass:
"The Director General deplores the fact that this information was not provided to the Agency in a timely manner, in accordance with the Agency's responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to enable it to verify its veracity and establish the facts," ElBaradei's office said.
Additionally, "the Director General views the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime," it said.
ElBaradei did not criticize North Korea or Syria in his statement.
The fact that Elbaradei was not told about the nuke plant shows the amount of trust the US and Israel have in the UN's nuclear monitoring agency. The silence speaks volumes.
UPDATE:Here's a pretty cool computer simulation of the nuke plant bombing.
The Iranians got within 200 yards of the US ship! Coastal Patrol Ships (PC)- USS Typhoon PC 5 (OKNAPC)
FOX reported that there were two Iranian boats involved.
The USS Typhoon tried unsuccessfully to establish radio contact with a small Iranian boat after it came within an estimated 200 yards of the Typhoon on Thursday April 10, 2008 outside Iranian territorial waters. (AP)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A cargo ship contracted by the U.S Military Sealift Command has fired at least one shot toward an Iranian boat, a U.S. defense official said on Friday.
"It was an MSC vessel," the official said, confirming the ship fired on an Iranian boat.
Other details were not immediately available. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain did not have any immediate comment.
The United States in January said Iranian boats threatened its warships on January 6 along a vital route for crude oil shipments.
The Westward Venture was travelling north in international waters in the central Gulf at around 8am local time on Thursday when the incident took place.
The cargo ship, which is chartered by the U.S. Department of Defense, opened fire after it was approached by two unidentified small boats.
Its crew issued "standard queries" to the vessels by radio but did not receive a response, Commander Robertson said.
The ship then fired a flare, which also produced no response, and when the boats continued to approach, its onboard security team fired "a few bursts" of machine gun and rifle warning shots.
"The small boats left the area a short time later," the spokeswoman said by telephone.
It's too bad Hillary wasn't there... She would have obliterated them.
Lawhawk describes it as another attempt by Iran to test American resolve. Truly.
They say the videos make the kids nuts. The Saudi religious leaders attacked popular video games, including Playstation, for being Un-Islamic and causing mental problems in children. AKI reported:
Saudi religious leaders have attacked a popular video game, used mainly by children.
According to the Arab TV network al-Arabiya, Saudi Arabia's minister of Islamic affairs has sent a newsletter to all imams in the country, warning about the 'dangers' that could result from using the popular Playstation video game.
"They are dangerous games, because they teach the wrong thing to children," read the newsletter.
"They have a negative influence on the personality of children, and thus from an Islamic point of view, it is not acceptable to waste time in this manner..."
"These games cause mental problems in children," said Badel Muhsin ibn Uthman Bin Baz, a professor from the Imam Saud university, according to Saudi daily al-Riyadh.
Maybe they're afraid the children will become too violent?
"All you have to do is drive down the street in your car, see the price at the pump, and you know that Americans can no longer afford George W. Bush as President and his Rubber Stamp Republican Congress."
But, enough is enough... This week House Republicans demanded that Pelosi turn over her promised plan to cut gas prices:
House Republican leaders on Tuesday challenged Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to release a plan to lower gas prices that they say Democrats touted when they were in the minority.
“Two years ago this week, you stated that House Democrats had a ‘commonsense plan’ to ‘lower gas prices,’ ” the letter said. “In light of the skyrocketing gasoline prices affecting working families and every sector of our struggling economy, we are writing today to respectfully request that you reveal this ‘commonsense plan’ so we can begin work on responsible solutions to help ease this strain.”
Sadly, she couldn't deliver. Pelosi and democrats have no plan-- just complaints.
Larry King even tried to get her to say something about her plan, via Michelle Malkin:
She had nothing.
Democrats may have been elected into office because of their constant complaints against President Bush, the military, the Republican Congress, Karl Rove, Scooter, Abu Ghraib... But, now that they are in control everyone can see they have nothing. No plan- No ideas- Nothing. It's clear today and Americans are suffering because of it.
Yesterday in an interview with CNN Jimmy Carter said that Condoleezza Rice was not telling the truth. Carter said he was never asked, or that it was even suggested to him, not to meet with Hamas on his latest romp through the Middle East. CNNreported yesterday:
Former President Carter very politely denied Wednesday that the secretary of state or anyone else in her department had warned him against meeting with Hamas leaders during his recent trip to the Middle East.
"President Carter has the greatest respect for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and believes her to be a truthful person," his spokeswoman, Deanna Congileo, said Wednesday in a statement.
"However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true. No one in the State Department or any other department of the U.S. government ever asked him to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President Assad or leaders of Hamas."
Every one knew he was asked not to go. His fellow "Elder" leaders knew about it and backed out of the trip because they were asked not to go. Condoleezza's reaction to Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas leaders was even published in several news reports on April 11:
"I find it hard to understand what is to be gained by having discussions with Hamas about peace when Hamas is in fact the impediment to peace," the US secretary of state said in Washington on Friday.
And, the State Department's reaction to Carter's meeting even made headlines: This was published a week before Jimmy Carter went to meet with Hamas. CNN reported:
The Bush administration has urged former President Jimmy Carter not to go forward with plans to meet with the leader of Hamas, the U.S. State Department said Thursday.
Carter may meet with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal next week in Damascus, Syria, during a trip to the Mideast.
The meeting originally was to include a delegation of world leaders, including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former South African President Nelson Mandela, but the group issued a statement Wednesday saying it was postponing its visit.
That statement was issued shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with Annan.
Notice that this same Carter spokesperson from yesterday was also commenting on the State Department warning a week before Carter flew to Syria. You would think that his staff would have contacted the State Department after seeing all of the headlines(?)
The truth is that Jimmy Carter didn't care what the State Department wanted. Jimmy Carter was only thinking about himself and his warped agenda. Jimmy Carter was doing his own thing. It is obvious then. It is obvious today.
Jimmy Carter is not only an appeaser to violent American-killing terrorists. Jimmy Carter is a lying appeaser to violent American-killing terrorists.
Human Rights expert Anne Bayefsky from EYE on the UN is attending the Preparatory Committee meetings for the Durban Review Conference. The sessions are being held in Geneva, Switzerland from April 21 until May 2, 2008.
Anne is brilliant in this segment despite the continual interruptions by Libyan Chairperson, Najat Al-Hajjaji. (Libya? Unbelievable!) Anne Bayefsky slams the Algerian representative for attempting to redefine anti-Semitism: VIDEO HERE HERE is the video.
I have a feeling Anne is all alone in a room full of Iranian, Cuban, Libyan, Algerian, and other thuggish "human rights" delegates. What a farce!
Anne Bayefsky has an update posted here. Here is just a piece of her recap:
The Egyptian representative gave a good summary of most everything wrong with Durban II. He claimed the conference and its preparatory process should focus on criminalizing "racial profiling," "racism in the media," "the challenges posed by Islamophobia since the events on 9/11," and "instrumentalization of democratic processes for racist applications." In short, racism is an evil Western plot to victimize Muslims, who can only be protected by the undermining of democracy, freedom, and law enforcement.
The Ambassador of Sri Lanka was more philosophical. In his words, "the relationship between racial discrimination and freedom of expression is a complex and dialectical one; more freedom of expression is not an antidote to racial discrimination."
The Algerian Ambassador took the U.N. Durban II platform to claim "anti-semitism . . . targets . . . Arabs who are also Semites, and by extension, the whole Muslim community."
Claudia Rosett has more on the the UN’s “Durban Review” mega-conference against “racism,” at Pajamas Media today.
When Barack Obama wins 92% of the black Democratic vote in Pennsylvania you know that the Clintons may have a problem. U.S. House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) is lashing out at Bill Clinton. (Reuters)
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, one of the most influential black leaders in Congress, said Bill Clinton’s racially charged comments over the course of the presidential campaign have “incensed” the black community, according to an article Thursday on The New York Times Web site.
Clyburn, a Democratic superdelegate who has not yet endorsed either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, told the Times that Bill Clinton’s “bizarre” conduct on the campaign trail threatens to damage his once vibrant relationship with the black community.
“When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar,” Clyburn said. “I think black folks feel strongly that … this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation.”
He added that black Americans are “incensed over all of this” and almost unanimously believe the Clintons “are committed to doing everything they possibly can to damage Obama to a point that he could never win.”
It was a bad day for Jimmy Carter... First the Palestinians admitted his meetings with Hamas achieved nothing. Then later Israel Ambassador to UN Dan Gillermancalled Jimmy Carter a "bigot" at a press conference.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN called Jimmy Carter a "bigot" today for meeting with the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas. The AP reported:
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday called former President Jimmy Carter "a bigot" for meeting with the leader of the militant Hamas movement in Syria.
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas," Ambassador Dan Gillerman told a luncheon briefing for reporters.
The diplomat was questioned about problems facing his country during a wide-ranging discussion with reporters lasting more than an hour. The briefing was sponsored by The Israel Project, a Washington-based, media-oriented advocacy group.
The ambassador's harsh words for Carter came days after the ex-president met with Mashaal for seven hours in Damascus to negotiate a cease-fire with Gaza's Hamas rulers. Carter then called Mashaal on Monday to try to get him to agree to a one-month truce without conditions, but the Hamas leader rejected the idea.
The ambassador called last weekend's encounter "a very sad episode in American history."
He said it was "a shame" to see Carter, who had done "good things" as a former president, "turn into what I believe to be a bigot."
Telephone calls by The Associated Press to two Atlanta numbers for Carter were not immediately returned Thursday.
Satellite images taken in August (left) and October showing installations east of the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. The image on the rights shows the suspected reactor site was completely destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in September 2007. The White House and the CIA told key lawmakers in secret that North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor at a site destroyed by an Israeli raid. (AFP/Digital Globa/File)
After the Syrian reactor plant was bombed back in September, Obama foreign policy advisor Joseph Cirincione blamed Israelis and conservatives for promoting a line of nonsense that North Korea was assisting the Syrians.
This story is nonsense. The Washington Post story should have been headlined "White House Officials Try to Push North Korea-Syria Connection." This is a political story, not a threat story. The mainstream media seems to have learned nothing from the run-up to war in Iraq. It is a sad commentary on how selective leaks from administration officials who have repeatedly misled the press are still treated as if they were absolute truth...
Some Israelis want to thwart any dialogue between the U.S. and Syria.
In typical leftist fashion, Cirincione's first reaction was to blame neocons and Israelis for cherry-picking information. His assessment was dead wrong and dangerously inaccurate. Is this really the type of leadership that America needs?
...For 20 years, Rev. Wright has been a “friend, mentor and pastor.” This is how Sen. Obama described him in a letter dated February 5, 2007.
In that letter, the senator wrote “I constantly remember Rev. Wright as the shepherd who guided me to my commitment to Christ one Sunday morning at Trinity. I often consider, as I work in the Senate how he lives his life-a life of service to Trinity, Chicago and the nation; his activism on behalf of causes that few would champion and his dogged commitment to the first principles of love for God and fellow man. And in my personal walk, I seek daily to imitate his faith.”
Umm.Now- is it OK to tie Barack Obama to his pastor, mentor and father figure, Jeremiah Wright?
Barack Obama wrote that letter about Wright 5 days before he announced his candidacy for president.
UPDATE:Doug Ross-- "You don't need a weatherman to know which way Obama's faith blows."
This is sick... The Bush-bashers are now beating girls in wheelchairs! Disabled girl gets pummelled by Bush-basher. (NY Post) The New York Post reported:
A man heckling First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna outside the 92nd Street Y was arrested after he punched a wheelchair-bound girl whose parents has told him to shut up, authorities said yesterday. German Talis, 22, was shouting obscenities at the Bushes, who were leaving the building Tuesday, when he crossed paths with Wendy and John Lovetro and their daughter Maureen, 18, who has cerebral palsy.
They had been in the audience to hear the Bushes talk about their children's book, "Read All About It."
"He began yelling about Iraq and Iran at Jenna Bush. She was waving at the crowd. I told the guy, 'What are you doing? Shut up. This is about a child and books,' " said John Lovetro. "He was unperturbed. I said, 'Get out of here! You're being a moron!' "
The next thing he knew, Talis was allegedly punching Maureen - a fan of the first lady since meeting her in 2004.
"I heard my daughter hysterical yelling, 'He's hitting me!' " said Wendy Lovetro.
"He punched her on the shoulder blades, but that wasn't enough," she said.
"My husband pushed the wheelchair away from him and he reached beyond my husband and began pounding my daughter in the thigh."
Jeremiah Wright says his words were twisted and taken out of context.
Wright says his words sounded just like hate speech but they really weren't. It just depends on if you consider screaming "God D*mn America" at the pulpit acceptable, or not.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright defended his racist, anti-American speech today in an interview with Bill Moyers. The Caucus reported:
In his first wide-ranging interview since video clips of his inflammatory sermons were aired, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. defended himself over the controversy, saying that his words were twisted.
Mr. Wright, Senator Barack Obama’s former pastor, gave an interview to Bill Moyers on Wednesday, to air on PBS tomorrow.
“I felt it was unfair,” Mr. Wright said, according to excerpts of the interview released Thursday. “I felt it was unjust. I felt it was untrue. I felt for those who were doing that, were doing it for some very devious reasons.”
In Mr. Wright’s sermons, he suggested that Americans bore some responsibility for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, saying “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” He also blamed the government for the spread of AIDS among African-Americans, characterized the United States government as corrupt and referred to the “U.S. of K.K.K. A.”
He did not apologize or back away from his remarks in the interview, instead saying that people wanted to paint him as “some sort of fanatic.”
“It’s to paint me as something — ‘Something’s wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with this country … for its policies. We’re perfect. Our hands are free. Our hands have no blood on them,’” he said. “That’s not a failure to communicate. The message that is being communicated by the sound bites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to communicate.”
When asked what the people who aired the clips “wanted to communicate,” Mr. Wright said, “I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ. And by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint? That’s what they wanted to communicate.”
He says people are painting him as some sort of fanatic. No way! Keep talking, Reverend. (Hat Tip Mike Moseley for Koterba Cartoon) And, remember Jeremiah Wright's biggest hits were made available on DVD! Hat Tip Larwyn
On Saturday April 12, 2008 a bomb blast ripped through a crowded mosque in Shiraz, Iran. Iranians gather near the scene of a bomb explosion in a mosque which killed from 12-50 people, in the city of Shiraz, 559 miles (990 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 12, 2008. Most of those at the mosque were youths who congregate there on Saturday nights. (Iranian Fars News)
Now there is video... This video was taken inside the Shiraz,Iran mosque moments before the bombing: (18 seconds)
AntiMullah has extended video versions of the bombing.
In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, "The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.' On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children's children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature."
Too bad her quote is not in the Bible... The Christian Bible. It must have been from some other book she was reading.
Apparently, she's made this mistake a few times. She even used this phony quote in her New Year's Eve Speech in 2005 -with Audio. (screen grab condensed) She's used it in many of her speeches:
"They reminded us that the Bible teaches that to minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.
Two days earlier, as the House was preparing to vote on its spending provisions, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California told her colleagues, "As the Bible teaches us, to minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship, to ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.
"In this Holy Week, we are reminded of these words in the Old Testament: 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.'
Pelosi concluded with a reference to the Old Testament: "To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us."
“The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’
The Milton Friedman Award is given every two years since 2002 to the person who has represented the best the fight for individual rights and freedom. This year in what can only be considered a stunning move, the winner is Yon Goicochea, the most prominent leader of the student movement through 2007. Venezuelan Student leader Yon Goicochea informs the students about the events during a rally against the Chavez referendum last year. Goicoechea, leader of the pro-democracy student movement in Venezuela, successfully prevented President Hugo Chávez’s regime from seizing broad dictatorial powers in December 2007. Congratulations Yon!
Brilliant!... Martyrdom = Less Demand = Lower Prices!
Mahmoud discovers a great way to fight inflation and unemployment. Mahmoud discusses economics with his two sons- Mahdi, a civil engineer (like his father), on the right, and his youngest Alireza, who is an internet addict, and a mechanical engineering student in the middle. The photo was taken at Mahdi's wedding earlier this month. (Farda News)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that the way to beat the growing economic crisis in Iran is through a "culture of martyrdom." Iran Focus reported:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the country's economic woes can be solved by the "culture of martyrdom, the Mehr news agency reported.
"If we want to build the country, maintain our dignity and solve economic problems, we need the culture of martyrdom," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in a speech on Wednesday in the western city of Hamedan.
He described martyrdom, dying or being killed for one's religious beliefs, as "a quick and shortcut way to reach the summit of salvation."
He did not say how becoming a martyr would help the economy, which is struggling from high inflation.
The president was speaking a day after ousted economy minister Davoud Danesh Jaafari became the latest person to launch a withering attack on him for his unconventional economic policies.
Ahmadinejad has been criticised for pumping excessive liquidity into the economy to fund infrastructure projects, causing huge money supply growth and triggering Iran's current inflation of around 18 percent.
However, critics believe the real inflation rate exceeds 25 percent, and have accused Ahmadinejad of making unscientific decisions in economic matters.
Davoud Danesh Jaafari, the government's economic minister blasted Mahmoud earlier in the week after he was replaced on the Ahmadinejad cabinet.
A multimillion dollar theme park will open in July in Baghdad. The first section to open will be the skateboard park. 200,000 skateboards will be donated to Iraqi children this summer to enjoy this "Disney" style theme park. The $1 million skateboard park will open in July. 200,000 skateboards will be shipped from the US and given away free to Iraqi children. (Times Online)
Llewellyn Werner admits he is facing obstacles most amusement park developers never have to deal with – insurgent attacks and looting.
When you are building an amusement park in downtown Baghdad, those risks come with the territory.
Mr Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. It is being designed by the firm that developed Disneyland. “The people need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge psychological impact,” Mr Werner said.
The 50-acre (20 hectare) swath of land sits adjacent to the Green Zone and encompasses Baghdad’s existing zoo...
In the years that followed, the zoo and the surrounding al-Zawra park became an occasional target for insurgent attacks. But in recent months, families have begun to return cautiously for weekend picnics. Renovations have already begun on the zoo, with cages being repainted and new animals arriving, including ostriches, bears and a lion.
Mr Werner, who has been sold a 50-year lease on the site by the Mayor of Baghdad for an undisclosed sum, says that the time is ripe for the amusement park. “I think people will embrace it. They’ll see it as an opportunity for their children regardless if they’re Shia or Sunni. They’ll say their kids deserve a place to play and they’ll leave it alone.”
Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Government, is equally optimistic: “There is a shortage of entertainment in the city. Cinemas can’t open. Playgrounds can’t open. The fun park is badly needed for Baghdad. Children don’t have any opportunities to enjoy their childhood.” Mr al-Dabbagh added that entry to the park would be strictly controlled.
The project will cost $500 million (£250 million) and will be managed by Iraqis. Under the terms of the lease, Mr Werner will retain exclusive rights to housing and hotel developments, which he says will be both culturally sensitive and enormously profitable. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t making money,” he said. “I also have this wonderful sense that we’re doing the right thing – we’re going to employ thousands of Iraqis. But mostly everything here is for profit.”
A $1 million skateboard park, the first phase of the development, will open in July. Parts for 200,000 skateboards and materials to build ramps will be shipped from America to Iraq for assembly at state-owned factories and distributed free to Iraqi children along with helmets and knee pads.
With the lull in violence Iraqis are already streaming back to the Al-Zawra Park... Iraqi teens dance in Zawraa park in central Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007. Residents of Baghdad packed the capital's parks and amusement rides on Saturday, taking advantage of a lull in violence and the Islamic feast of Eid al-Adha to venture out of their homes in droves. (AP/ Khalid Mohammed)
In the video Iraq War Veteran Jason Swartout destroys an antiwar sign planted by the "peace" activists at a pro-troop protest:
Jason describes the scene: "The "Women in Black" activists planted a nasty sign at our rally spot so they could sit across the street to record it's destruction. Her position was compromised before she could complete her objective so we did it for her. Enjoy Marie..."
Here is an update from Carrie Swartout the military wife who was beat to the ground and kicked in the head by Edinboro "peace" activists in Pennsylvania earlier this week. Her husband Jason, an Iraq War veteran, and son were also assaulted by the "peace" thugs. Gathering of Eagles NY reported:
After-Action Report Edinboro “Tuesday’s at Two” Counter-Protest:
On April 22nd several members of the Northwest Pa. Gathering of Eagles gathered in Edinboro, Pa to counter-protest an anti-war demonstration staged by some students from Edinboro University, their professors and a few unidentified and hygienically challenged others. Initially the operation was quite innocuous with a few spirited verbal exchanges between the two sides. We were positioned across the street receiving many honks and thumbs up from passersby.
Andrew, our 14-year-old son, crossed the street to videotape the “toy-soldier” displays setup by the peace crowd. These displays consisted of many small plastic soldiers glued to a child’s sled, can’t explain that one, and a footlocker with toy soldiers, middle finger pictures and a map of Iraq. Two females began harassing Andrew as they shoved signs in his face and threatened to sue him for videotaping.
Carrie and I (Jason) crossed the street to ensure Andrew wasn’t hurt and to explain to the “students” that his videotaping was well within the law. The professors standing with the students goaded the entire thing on failing to explain to the students that they were wrong and out of line. It wasn’t long before one of the peace protesters grabbed the sign out of my hand and threw it into the street. As I attempted to retrieve it she got up into my face. Carrie stepped between us so that I would not have to defend myself to a female. The girl and her sister then stepped into Carrie’s face and swung at her. I subdued one of the girls as the other girl beat Carrie down in the middle of the street, pulled her to the ground by her hair and kicked her in the head... it should be noted the aggressor was wearing boots.
Carrie is still wearing her inflatable cast which makes it easy for her to lose her balance. Andrew pulled the girl off of Carrie and she was able to get up. I was on the ground holding onto the other girl until several men attacked me, holding me while one of them hit me in the head from behind. I was telling them I was only holding her so that she wouldn’t attack my wife again. I let go of her due to the punches and was eventually able to get up. During this exchange, my glasses were knocked to the ground and smashed in the street. At this time, Andrew was just videotaping when one of the two girls attacked him unprovoked landing a hard right on the side of his face. I was able to pull her back preventing any further attacks. I had to keep the two girls from attacking Carrie again as they we trying to.
We are so very proud of Andrew. He maintained a very mature and level-head throughout the entire event. He told us he had wanted to “do” more but due to his Tae Kwon Do training, he knows to do the least amount possible to defuse the situation and thus chose only to pull the girl off of his mom. Andrew is learning a lot from these people and understands what is at stake.
The Edinboro Police were called, two officers responded. One of the officers spoke with Carrie and me first, noting our side of things. The other officer was quite agitated and was very aggressive toward us. He said nothing to the members of the peace crowd as they shouted at me but when I said something back the officer bowed up on me, got in my face and threatened to arrest me. I sat down on the curb with Carrie until the questioning process was through.
As I was there the one girl came back across the street as she had been directed by the police and spit directly at me, some hitting my leg. The officer ignored it and actually was angry with us for letting it bother us. He made the girl go back across the street with no threat of arrest!!! Andrew played the videotape for the officer and he made the decision that no one should be arrested. We pointed out that it was clearly visible we had not thrown the first blows and that we were clearly antagonized to do so. Also, we asked why, when it was clear a minor was blatantly assaulted, the girl who punched Andrew was not arrested. He really did not explain that one.
Jeff Kays, a fellow member of GOE who was present, went to the police station with me so that I could inquire about the assault on Andrew. The aggressive officer who had threatened to arrest me was the only one there. He was very agitated that I came there and told me that I should be arrested for hitting a girl, which I clearly did not do. After asking why the girl wasn’t arrested he busted out of the door, got into my face and said that I was pushing it and that I had better stop or he was cuffing me. I asked the officer if I could leave, so as not to disrespect him, and he said yes. I left the station.
Jeff stayed behind and spoke with the officer. Jeff said that he sat down in a chair so as to demonstrate compliance and asked the officer a few questions. The officer then relaxed a little and told Jeff that the video will have to be reviewed and the DA consulted before a decision would be made how to proceed. Now, wasn’t that easy?
While we are all a little sore, we are in pretty good spirits. We are seeking legal representation and will report back soon as to the progress of the case. Carrie has retrieved the video from the police station and is working on getting it posted. The police told her today that this is “simple assault” which does not warrant anyone being arrested. He explained a weapon would have had to been present to warrant aggravated assault or the intent to seriously harm or kill... even on a minor. He explained that they could have crossed the street, punched my 7-year-old and not have been arrested! Carrie then asked, “isn’t a kick to the head an attempt to seriously harm”, he replied that he did not see that so it doesn’t matter. Carrie told him that our daughter Anna saw the kick but he said that was not admissible evidence.
Our video clearly depicts the kick. You can see the girls boot fly up into the screen over where Carrie was lying. It should be noted there was an individual on their side that was videotaping. The police did not confiscate her video, which is somewhat curious. She did tell the police that she had videotaped the entire event. I wonder if she will come forward with her video due to the fact that it clearly will not make things any better for them.
Thanks to all for the emails and phone calls of support. We love you guys and hope no one has to ever again endure the ABUSE of the “peace” protesters!
Please keep in mind the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall will be in this same city, Edinboro Pa, from May 1st-5th! The opening ceremony for this event is May 1st on the Edinboro University Campus at 12 P.M. ( http://cms.edinboro.edu/promotions/vietnam_wall.dot.) May be a good time for a “gathering”!
Carrie Swartout aka - Pissed Off Military Wife www.nwpagatheringofeagles.com www.youtube.com/jncs1991
"When John Murtha threw the (innocent) Haditha Marines under the bus, John Murtha put the United States Congress's stamp of approval on enemy propaganda."
Cold-Blooded Murtha will face a Republican opponent this fall. The Corner reported:
Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) will have an opponent this year after all. A judge had kicked retired Lt. Col. William Russell (R), a veteran of both Iraq Wars, off the ballot earlier this year for lack of valid petition signatures. A legal challenge had winnowed him down to just 993, whereas he needed 1,000 signatures. This gave Murtha a shot at an unopposed victory in the fall, as there were no other Republican challengers.
Russell did not give up, though. To qualify for the November ballot, he had to get at least 1,000 write-in votes in the district yesterday to qualify for the ballot. His consultants saw this as doable, but still a challenge in a primary where there was really nothing happening on the Republican side — not even a decent local race to attract voters to the polls. Considering that Republican turnout was already going to be low, and only a small percentage of voters ever think to write in a name, you might think they'd be lucky to get just enough to qualify.
Well, think again. I'm told that the count now stands at 4,700 write-in votes for Russell.
This email was sent out earlier by Jason Bootie on the write-in campaign for Lt. Colonel William Russell:
Thanks to a lot of hard work on the part of a lot of campaign volunteers and Peg Luksik's organizational and team building skills, it looks like we are back on the ballot. Thank you all for all the enthusiasm, phone calls, footwork, and prayers. It would not have been possible without you! We needed 1000 votes to be listed on the ballot for the General Election in November.
Here are the preliminary and partial reports so far: Washington County 764 Greene 381 Allegheny 24 Armstrong 412 Somerset 26 Cambria unavailable Westmoreland unavailable Fayette unavailable Indiana unavailable
TOTAL TO DATE 1607
You can contribute to Lt. Colonel William Russell's campaign HERE.
** FrontPagewrites about the terrorist fundraiser for Obama- Hatem El-Hady.
** TigerHawkreports that the Left is already excusing these Obama-terror links. Hat Tip Larwyn
--NOTE-- These are just today's reports on Obama's terror links. His TERROR Links! This does not include the stories on Rev. Wright or Gun-toting Bible thumpers or his wife Michelle. Amazing!
UPDATE 2: Obama's friend Ayers is now influencing your children from his perch in academia. The City Journal reported:
Last month, he was elected vice president for curriculum of the 25,000-member American Educational Research Association (AERA), the nation's largest organization of education-school professors and researchers. Ayers won the election handily, and there is no doubt that his fellow education professors knew whom they were voting for. In the short biographical statement distributed to prospective voters beforehand, Ayers listed among his scholarly books Fugitive Days, an unapologetic memoir about his ten years in the Weather Underground. The book includes dramatic accounts of how he bombed the Pentagon and other public buildings.
AERA already does a great deal to advance the social-justice teaching agenda in the nation's schools and has established a Social Justice Division with its own executive director. With Bill Ayers now part of the organization's national leadership, you can be sure that it will encourage even more funding and support for research on how teachers can promote left-wing ideology in the nation's classrooms—and correspondingly less support for research on such mundane subjects as the best methods for teaching underprivileged children to read. [emp- SC&A]
WE GOT IZZAT! Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri was captured in Iraq! Following the execution of former President Saddam Hussein in December, 2006, Izzat was confirmed as the new leader of the banned Iraqi Baath Party. He was reportedly running operations out of Syria. AU.com and AFP reported:
A MAN suspected to be Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, who tops the Iraqi government's list of most-wanted fugitives, has been captured in Iraq, Al-Arabiya television reported today.
The man suspected to be Duri, who was number two under Saddam Hussein, was captured by Iraqi forces and handed over to the US military, it said, citing Iraqi security sources.
The US military in Baghdad denied it was holding Duri.
"We are aware of media reports that Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri has been captured," the military said in an email.
"At this point, we can say that he is not in coalition custody and we have no reports that he was captured by Iraqi security forces either."
Al-Arabiya said the man was caught in Hamrin between the provinces of Salaheddin and Kirkuk and was being moved to Baghdad.
MORE-- According to the AFP- Is it Izzat??? Maybe Not:
Al-Arabiya television channel reported that a man suspected to be Duri, who tops the Iraqi government's list of most-wanted fugitives, has been captured in Iraq.
The man suspected to be Duri was captured by Iraqi forces and handed over to the US military, it said citing Iraqi security sources.
Al-Arabiya said the man was caught in Hamrin between the provinces of Salaheddin and Kirkuk and was being moved to Baghdad.
DNA tests are being conducted to confirm his identity, the Dubai-based Saudi-owned channel added.
HotAir reports that Syria may have given Izzat up.
UPDATE: Izzit him? Izzit not?... It may be a false alarm.
Carl in Jerusalem is reporting that Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert has informed Damascus that Israel is willing to withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria.
Now you know... The earth is getting c-c-c-colder. A record snowfall of 24 centimetres recorded in Canada early Saturday morning snapped tree limbs and cut off electricity. (Nanaimo Daily News)
THE scariest photo I have seen on the internet is www.spaceweather.com, where you will find a real-time image of the sun from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, located in deep space at the equilibrium point between solar and terrestrial gravity.
What is scary about the picture is that there is only one tiny sunspot.
Disconcerting as it may be to true believers in global warming, the average temperature on Earth has remained steady or slowly declined during the past decade, despite the continued increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, and now the global temperature is falling precipitously.
All four agencies that track Earth's temperature (the Hadley Climate Research Unit in Britain, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, the Christy group at the University of Alabama, and Remote Sensing Systems Inc in California) report that it cooled by about 0.7C in 2007. This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record and it puts us back where we were in 1930. If the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over.
There is also plenty of anecdotal evidence that 2007 was exceptionally cold. It snowed in Baghdad for the first time in centuries, the winter in China was simply terrible and the extent of Antarctic sea ice in the austral winter was the greatest on record since James Cook discovered the place in 1770.
The defense minister in Spain is 7 months pregnant. Spain's defense minister Carme Chacon reviews troops in Madrid, in a Monday April 14, 2008 file photo. In Spain some were already questioning whether Chacon, Spain's first woman defense minister, should be able to take the state-mandated 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, given the importance of her job. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Italian Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi mocked the Zapatero government in Spain for having more women than men on the cabinet. AKI reported:
Prime minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi has divided left-wing commentators with controversial comments he made about the women in Spain's cabinet.
The Italian left-wing daily, Il Riformista, on Wednesday published diverse opinions about Spain's new defence minister, Carme Chacon, who is seven months pregnant.
Last week, Berlusconi said Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had appointed too many women to his cabinet, which he considered "too pink".
Speaking on Radio Monte Carlo, Berlusconi joked that Zapatero "would have problems" because there were nine women in his new cabinet.
Chacon's role as defence minister has been attacked by journalists from Il Riformista with journalist Lucetta Scaraffia claiming that the minister was "behaving like a man, and forgetting to be a woman."
A second journalist and TV producer Giovanni Minoli wrote an article in the same paper further criticising the female defence minister.
"I do not agree with her theatrical trip to Afghanistan, 'sold' as a symbol of conquest and modernity," said Minoli, a journalist and director of state-run TV station RAI Educational.
Minoli said that it would have been better and more "culturally innovative" if Chacon had sought and obtained leave from executive office for at least 10 months.
He said this would have allowed her to breastfeed the baby calmly and give her time to gradually resume her ministerial duties.
Last week Spain's Defence Minister, Carme Chacon, at 7 months pregnant, met with Spanish troops in Afghanistan. (Independent)
For burning photos of Ahmadinejad and chanting "Down With Dictator" against him, three student leaders at Amir Kabir University were imprisoned for "Desecrating Islam." Majid Tavakkoli, Ehsan Mansouri and Ahmad Ghassaban have been sentenced to three years, two years, and two and a half years in prison, respectively. There is no evidence in this case other than confessions extracted from the student under torture at the infamous Ward 209 in Evin Prison.
An Iranian court has handed down prison sentences ranging from 22 to 30 months to students from Amir Kabir University students, who have been detained for about a year, for desecrating the sanctity of Islam.
The students said that the real reason for their sentence is their participation in the students’ demonstration during a visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the university, and their burning of his picture.
The families of the students stated that their confessions were extracted from them under pressure and torture.
Source: Rooz, Iran, April 16, 2008; Amir Kabir University students' paper, Iran, April 14 and 15, 2008.
The students also mocked Ahmadinejad outside of the event at Amir Kabir University... And, took video of the protest:
While US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leads rival Hillary Clinton in the polls, Palestinians in Gaza are launching their own attempt to boost his campaign.
The Gazans led by the terrorist Hamas organization will not miss President Bush in the fall.
Edinboro, Pennsylvania activists hold a weekly "peace" vigil near campus: (23 seconds)
But, last week these activists assaulted a US Iraq War veteran and his family.
An Iraqi War Veteran and his family were pummelled by "peace" activists in Pennsylvania this past week. Gathering of Eagles in New York sent this:
Peace Fascists, Professors and Hillary Supporters assault Iraqi War Veteran and Family Citizens do nothing to intervene. Edinboro, PA, Apr. 22
For the second time in as many weeks, an Iraq War Veteran and his family held a Support the Troops rally across the street from the weekly “peace” protest in this college town. This week the true nature of the ‘peace’ activists was revealed for all to see. When the veteran’s 14 year old son crossed the street to videotape the protesters and their signs, the protesters became agitated and began harassing the boy. The right to record video in any public venue is long established in law and any attempt to interfere with that right is a violation of civil rights.
Seeing the escalating tension across the street, the veteran and his wife crossed over, leaving their three youngest children on the other side for safety while they went to retrieve their eldest son. Two of the female ‘peace’ protesters then attacked the veteran’s wife. When the veteran pulled one of those attackers off his wife he was jumped by four or five of the ‘peace’ people and knocked to the ground where they held him while beating him and smashing his eyeglasses.
The son pulled the remaining attacker off his mother, but the attacker managed to get in one last kick to his mother’s head with her boot. She then punched the son in his face while his mother called the police.
This all took place at a busy intersection, the mother had been knocked into the street in bumper to bumper traffic. People were visible in the windows of shops and a bar nearby. One might think someone would intervene to put a stop to the assault. One would be wrong. In a scene eerily reminiscent of the Kitty Genovese tragedy in New York, the bystanders and passers-by refused to stand up to the ‘peace’ thugs. Displaying a craven cowardice one would not have expected in middle America they would rather go on their way thankful that it was not them being assaulted. It was NOT them, today, but what about tomorrow?
**John Lilyea has more on this assault on the Iraq War Veteran and his family, including this:
The girl later spit on Jason right in front of the cop and nothing was done about it. Amazing! Right now I have a huge headache and knots coming up all over my head. Jason has scratch marks on his face not to mention someone stomping on his glasses when they fell off. Andrew has a red cheek. So we’ll get a AAR for this event and Saturday’s maybe tomorrow night after we get our camera back.
OUTRAGE IN CONGO--- Sorcerers are snatching penises again. PENIS THEFT CAUSES PANIC IN CONGO! Officials in Congo have made several arrests after a rise in penis snatchings. Reuters reported:
Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.
Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.
Rumours of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.
Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure...
Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.
Bob Owens noticed some very shoddy reporting today at the San Francisco Chronicle: SFGate reported:
More than 120 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commit suicide every week while the government stalls in granting returning troops the mental health treatment and benefits to which they are entitled, veterans advocates told a federal judge Monday in San Francisco.
120 suicides every week??? That comes out to 6,240 veteran suicides each year or 17 suicides every day.
Actually, that number is about four times higher (1,858 in 2006) than the total military fatalities each year. That number is also 40 times higher than the total number of military suicides in 2006. In 2006, 155 US military members in all branches committed suicide: Click to Enlarge
In fact the average number of suicides dropped during the Bush years compared to the Clinton years. But, leave it to the mainstream media to report some hugely inaccurate military fatality numbers and not question it. Did anyone read this before it was published??? Unreal.
Dan Collins adds this: "If one veteran of the wars kills himself weekly, it’s a tragedy. These morons have turned it into a farce."
The Pakistani Daily Times reported that Barack Obama may halt aid to ally Pakistan:
LAHORE: The United States may halt military aid to Pakistan if the latter fails to safeguard US interests in the war on terror, US democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Tuesday. According to Channel 5, Obama said that the aid given to Pakistan was not intended for its army to fight India, but instead to safeguard US interests in the region. He also said that the presence of militants in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas was a threat to US interests, the channel reported.
Tonight we get to see who is more bloodied- Shameless Tuzla Liar or BaracKKKa Obama... Results at 8:00 PM EST. Pennsylvania had 158 delegates at stake and is the last of the big states to vote.
FOX News reported that exit polling all year has had Obama doing better than the actual results. Here are the initial exit polling results--
Hillary is dominating: - Women: 55% to 44% - Lower Income - 55% to 44% - Seniors 55% to 38% - Union households 58% to 42% - No college- 57% to 43% - Gun owners 58% to 42%
Obama is dominating: - Black 92% to 8% --Barack only did better in Illinois with black vote - Youth- 58% in the under 30 crowd - Urban voters - 69% to 31% - College grads (Elitists) are going for Obama- 55% to 46%
HotAir has this from Marc Ambinder-- “25% of Clinton supporters say they’d vote for McCain in the general election; 17% of Obama supporters say they’d vote for McCain in the general election.”
UPDATE 2: Bill Clinton continues to do what he does best... Yesterday, Bill Clinton said Obama played the race card- Today he says he didn't say it. Johnny Dollar has the Video, via HotAir.
UPDATE 3: Hillary calls for shared prosperity again in her speech tonight in Pennsylvania. Somehow she will bring down gas prices and cure all of the world's diseases. She also throws in her Bush-bash and "ready on day one" lines.
UPDATE 4: With the unemployment at 5%, Obama gives his patent Depression speech. Sheesh.
UPDATE 5:Let Freedom Ring has the county by county results. It was not a good night for Obama.
Don't try this at home... As you watch this ad by We Can Solve It picture Al Sharpton throwing his McDonald's bag of trash out on the highway while cruising 60:
Robertson is usually right?
The other ad they put out is just as bad with Pelosi and Newt.
Pelosi hasn't solved much of anything in the last two years. I don't expect her to help much with this imagined crisis. Meanwhile in the real world Canada continued to report record snows yesterday. ...In April. And,Jammie Wearing Fool honors Earth Day.
Glenn Reynolds takes a more practical approach at saving the planet.
Just in time for Earth Day... New Al-Qaeda Tape Continues Theme of Environmentalism We're starting to see a pattern here... Last fall Osama Bin Laden, the ecologically friendly terrorist, bashed President Bush for not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol:
"All of mankind is in danger because of the global warming,... yet despite that the representative of these corporations insists on not observing the Kyoto accord..."
Osama, of course has been doing his part... Living in a cave; pooping in a bucket every day.
"But, it is sorta strange. It's an insult to sophomores to call that first tape sophomoric. It's a bunch of kind of crazy left-wing weird things just kind of thrown together..."
Al-Zawahri spoke on a wide range of issues, even global warming, which he said reflected "how criminal, brutal and greedy the Western Crusader world is, with America at the top."
He predicted that global warming would "make the world more sympathetic to and understanding of the Muslims' jihad against the aggressor America."
The Media LOVED It when Obama did it after his pastor's hateful anti-American rants--- Now, after being backed into a corner, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys is trying it out... The Race Card Spin Defense Alicia Keys came out with her own crazy conspiracy-filled racist rant in an interview with Blender Magazine last week. This month's Blender published the nutty article where Alicia insists that:
** 'Gangsta rap' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. ** She wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck "to symbolize strength, power and killing 'em dead." ** The bicoastal feud between slain rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. was fueled "by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing." ** If black leaders such as the late Black Panther Huey Newton (a cop killer) "had the outlets our musicians have today, it'd be global. I have to figure out a way to do it myself."
Now... Alicia is backtracking on her conspiracy theories. And Alicia sees this really as a wake up call for all of us. The AP reported:
NEW YORK - Alicia Keys says she’s not a conspiracy theorist.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Keys said she was clarifying “comments that were made during my recent Blender magazine interview since they have been misrepresented.”
According to an interview in the magazine’s May issue, the 27-year-old singer says: “‘Gangsta rap’ was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. ‘Gangsta rap’ didn’t exist.” She also is quoted as saying that she wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck “to symbolize strength, power and killing ’em dead.”
We stand by our story,” Blender spokeswoman Kate Cafaro told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“My comments about ‘gangsta rap’ were in no way trying to suggest that the government is responsible for creating this genre of rap music,” Keys said in a statement issued by J Records. “The point that I was trying to make was that the term was oversloganized by some of the media causing reactions that were not always positive. Many of the ‘gangsta rap’ lyrics articulate the problems of the artists’ experiences and I think all of us, including our leaders, could be doing more to address these problems including drugs, gang violence, crime, and other related social issues.”
As for the AK-47 remark, Keys said Tuesday that AK-47 is a nickname given to her by friends “as an acronym for Alicia Keys and a metaphor for wowing people with my music and performances, ‘killing ’em dead’ on stage. The reference was in no way meant to have a literal, political or negative connotation.”
Uh-Huh. Oh brother. Is this what we have to look forward to now? ...So, every time a prominent black makes racist crazy remarks we're going to be lectured on how it is our fault and that we need to change and look at things differently? Thank you. I'll pass.
The youths were committing "immoral acts" by dancing, drinking and listening to the evil Western music. AKI reported:
Tehran, 22 April(AKI) - Seventy-five young people accused of 'immoral acts' have been arrested by police at a birthday party in the city of Shiraz in southwestern Iran.
The young men and women were accused of "immoral acts" and of holding a "non-authorised promiscuous gathering" said the chief commander of the police forces, Ali Moayyedi.
"These young people were dancing, drinking alcohol and listening to forbidden western music," said Moayyedi.
It is not the first time police have raided private parties and arrested people.
Do you suppose this will make the mainstream news? The following is a translation by Iraqi-American Haider Ajina from Nida'a al Rafidain News published on April 17, 2008:
Iraq’s Josef Al-Sadr says that Muqtada Al- Sadr has tainted Our Family Reputation; --We will deal with him internally.
Alseyed Josef Alsadar a member of the honored Sadar family wrote a letter to Alrafedain news (Nida'a al Rafidain News) which said: "Muqtada al-Sadr has tainted the reputation of this respected family, and the family disowns Muqtada. We are as innocent of him as the wolf is of the blood of Josef (Biblical (Old Testament I believe) and Koranic reference). The family is working on ways to discipline him with in the family. Consultations for this are held at the highest level to come up with punishments for its rogue son.
These courageous and dangerous statements come, for the fist time, from a member of the Sadar family. Alseyed Josef al-Sadr is considered to be a member of the family with deep faith who is rarely public. It appears he has broken his silence to show the truth before it is to late.
Al-rafidain has published this news after it consulted with Josef Alsadar, and expressed its concern that publishing his letter may threaten his life or safety.
The news agency reminded him of the assassination of Said Riadh Alnoori some days earlier. He was assassinated after he wrote Muqtada a letter asking him to dissolve the Mehdi Army. Alseyed Josef insisted we publish his letter against all threats.
Haider Ajina comments on the recent developments:
A number of religious leaders and leading figures have stepped out of a long standing tradition of non confrontation with other religious leaders. This tradition is now being challenged. Muqtada was told by a number of Ayatollahs that it is against Islam to take arms against an elected government. The will of the people is to be respected and political change has to happen at the ballet box. This is very encouraging and really not a surprise.
Islam teaches Muslims that it is their duty to speak out and take action to confront wrongdoings. It is time this teaching is put to practice by those who profess to be leaders of the religion. Muslim condemnations of terrorist attacks and bigotry have been heard for some time now. Suicide attacks have also been condemned by a number of Muslim leaders, now it is time to call those who entice violent political change to task.
